The first post-launch update for Goblin and Recipes: Match-3 Adventure is now live.

This update adds a handful of small quality-of-life and presentation improvements:

• New Fast and Slow animation speed options

• Spicy matches now burst into red sparkles when they disappear

• Match sparkles have been made a little more visible

• Optional hints can now show a possible move after 60 seconds of inactivity

• A small steam puff now occasionally rises from the cauldron when you've been idle for a while

Hints and animation speed can be changed in the Settings menu. Hints are enabled by default.

Thanks for playing and for all the feedback so far.

Update 2: Challenge mode is being tested right now

This update adds a Challenge mode that unlocks after finishing all 50 levels of the "Campaign". It challenges the player to reach 20K points as fast as possible on a progressively challenging board, and submit the final score to the leaderboard. Your personal results are shown in the main menu after the synchronization.

This update branch requires no password and anyone who owns the game can test it already if they want.

Read More

Update 1 – New Card Deck & Visual Improvements

 

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all the feedback since launch. Based on your suggestions, Update 1 is now available!

Changes

• Added a brand new Pixel card deck featuring unique pixel art for all 52 cards by Snoblin.
• Classic card deck has been renamed to Minimal.
• Improved readability of the Minimal and Dark card decks with larger center suit/rank symbols.
• Refreshed the Dark deck color palette.
• Changed the Minimal deck card background from pure white to a warmer paper tone for a more comfortable look.
• Minor visual polish and fixes.

As always, thank you for playing Goblin Solitaire and for helping improve the game with your feedback!

 

 

Read More

Goblin themed card set updated

One of the most common pieces of feedback I've received since announcing Goblin Solitaire was that the Goblin card deck could use a bit more personality.

I've just updated the Goblin card theme with large custom suit artwork inspired by the game's fantasy setting. It's a small visual change, but it makes the deck feel much more distinctive while keeping the cards easy to read.

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to share suggestions and feedback—it genuinely helped improve the game.

Goblin Solitaire launches on July 10.
Wishlist on Steam if you'd like to be notified at release!

Read More

A few new levels...

 A short look through a few GIFs showcasing the details of some recent levels. It's been a productive period and GnC2 is now considered alpha2 with more than 50% content being done and tested. It's early to talk about a release date, but if this tempo continues... Well. Let's take a look.

So, in the Rolling hills you escape the evil spellcasters by entering an unusual portal... Where does it lead?

Desecrated fields, a short visit to an otherworldly dimension. Also an opportunity to meet an old "friend" from GnC1 (not pictured here). After you escape this horrid place...

A long stretch, introducing murder-axe-bunnies. It's what they do and what they are. Are you really back to the "real" world?

Swamps are traditionally difficult levels in GnC series, and this time it's not different. Besides the enemies, you need to avoid projectiles coming from the local unfriendly flora. Not to mention various spikes, sinking logs...

After the Swampland and a few other levels you end up in a BOSS fight with this sail ship in the distance... and after you manage to beat it enough...

You actually get to pay them a visit up-close. Not so tough anymore, ah, Pirates? And after this we'll visit some Dwarven areas of the game, but more about that in the future ;)

Read More

Music and game file size

I've added music to menus and existing levels, and with that, the total game size surpassed 17 Mb of the original Goblin and Coins. My goal is still to keep it under 100 Mb if possible and so far seems very doable. 

 Can't say I predicted SteamDeck back in 2015 when I was working on GnC1, but I did know of 2in1 tablets using Windows and wanted people to be able to download GnC1 and play it while on commute or whatever... and those things had their storage in the form of 32-64 GB eMMC cards most of the time, as SSD's were still expensive for mainstream notebooks, with Windows itself taking a huge chunk. So 17 Mb was amazingly small and convenient download size. 

 It would be a bit crazy to plan for GnC2 blowing up and being super-mega-ultra-popular, of course, but that doesn't mean that some of the people playing it won't have SteamDeck or a similar device... and why not try to keep the game size down to a minimum if it can be done, for them and in general. That way you can squeeze GnC2 in between some larger games and have it with you all the time. 

 Oh, also, hoping to make another playtest this winter. If you've already participated you'll automatically get access again, everyone else will be able to apply through store page during the test itself.

Read More

Using the same tile-set several times

This April I've finally managed to take some time away from my day job and create a new tile-set: beach. Sand, dunes, palm trees moving slowly in the wind. As with other tile-sets, this one will be used for several levels and not just one, but this is a good example to showcase that levels using the same tile-set won't be the same, as the tiles used are just the base to build further.

GnC2: Sunny beach (Work in progress) - Indie DB

In the video above you can see a basic "beach" level. There are tile-set based platforms, some small details, animated background (not too animated, don't want it to be distracting), enemies and a "trampoline" in the form of a turtle. Don't jump on real turtles please! Anyway, that's the "Sunny beach" medium sized level, there's some verticality to it but it's not large.

Next, let's take a look at the starting location for the "Fisherman's village" level, which is a small (short) linear level that connects the "Sunny beach" and the next level, which will be the first large level in the game. I'm not promising a maze but I'll try my best to give the player an interesting experience. Anyway...

If you look down, that's the exactly same tile-set that makes the platform Goblin is standing on, the parallax backgrounds are the same (at least for now, I might remove one layer to optimize the level) BUT the additional assets created just for this level make the difference. Here in the picture you can see a fisherman's shack and some nets drying in the sun. There's more of these assets that make this level unique visually and story-telling wise, but you'll have to wait to see them, I can't reveal everything upfront.

Read More

A brand new level and how it progressed

 It's been a while and mostly due to my day job being crazy because of covid. Had some time off lately so I've managed to start crafting the first "variation" tileset and that's snow/ice, and with it, the first snowy level - "Snowy Pass". It's a mountain pass between two peaks, which leads from the first quarter of the map to the second. Easy and short level, specially compared to what's planned with this tileset for the remaining 4 snowy levels.

Goblin and Coins II: Snowy Pass details (WIP) - Indie DB

Initial preview videos show it as a very simple tileset, no variations, details... There's one enemy type, a winter-coat pirate that chases after the goblin after it notices it. There's also an icicle trap that can be triggered by the player to hurt the enemy... or goblin, if not careful.

What I've added now is some... life to this little area. First of all, there are snowflakes falling down slowly. They aren't actually touching the ground, if you look carefully, but that's the intended effect, I want them to pop-out of dark background and not actually go through the ground. Maybe it will look better otherwise but so far I like this. Second, I've added a moving platform. Just because it's the first snowy level you'll encounter in the game, doesn't mean there should be only the most basic platforms hanging in the air. And in the end, I've created 2 animated tiles. There's a bunny hole with blinking eyes inside and... a snow hare, showing up behind the platform edge. Now that I'm looking at the video, I realize it lacks some depth. No worries, I'll fix that with some shading soon.

GnC2: Snowy Pass [WIP] moving platform, snow hare - Indie DB

And with this, the level is mostly done. The way the game has been built from ground up allows me to easily update graphics later if needed or even change the levels without too much hassle about compiling & building future versions.

Next, to the caves and underground mines!

Read More

2nd alpha test - the Underground

It's been a while, but here we are again, time to do another round of testing. What's been added to the game is another core area which players will potentially visit during their gameplay. Unlike the tutorial/intro level, the map and the store, which are all core elements that exist independent of the real levels, this one is optional...sort of. 

Remember the old arcade games where when you lose all lives you have that "Continue?" screen and you have to insert a coin? Well no coins here (how ironic) but every time you lose all lives you'll get a "Game over. Continue?" popup, and number of available continues goes down. You start with 5. When you get to 0 it's a game over for real... 

Actually not, you go to the Underground, which is a sort of difficult level where you need to collect 5 golden leaves to assembly a golden branch, which will resurrect you back to the map with 10 new continues. 

There's no boss in this level, only traps and some rare lost souls as enemies. I might add more later, based on the test feedback. Goblin will be in it's ghost form (not even breathing while in idle state) and the environment is cold, washed out of color and sprinkled with some old bones and spiderwebs. 

In theory, an amazing player who never loses initial 5 continues will never see the Underground. And someone who dies a lot will see it a lot... which will prompt them to buy a 99 continues upgrade from the clerk at the store (for in-game virtual coins that goblin collects). 

What is also new in this build is option to turn on hints, which will show you exclamation marks where there's some action to be done, or question marks where you should look around to find out more. This will also cover existing color-coded halos for keys and chests. Default is turned on, for now. 

I've also added an option in the settings/gameplay menu to skip all the popups (level end screen, continue? screen and so on) for potential speed runners, but it's not fully implemented yet and will be tested later. This will basically provide GnC1 atmosphere, where you just glide through without selecting options in in-game menus. 

Read More

Initial alpha test build and bug fixes

Yesterday I've compiled an initial alpha test build and send it to some good people for an early testing and to gather some feedback.

Sales person in the in-game shop (for virtual coins, no mtx here!)

In less than 24 hrs amazing people testing the it managed to find several bugs ranging from one moderate to a few less important and I've fixed them all so far. It's really a wonderful time in a game development cycle when you start getting first feedback and realize all your testing means nothing because one person on one computer can't cover everything, and even more importantly, some testers will try stuff you never thought of doing in a million of years. And it will break things. Ok, let's see.

Moderate

• Flying enemy type had a weird glitch where touching a slope would freeze the game completely. Fixed.

Medium

• The difference between how VM (debugging) and YYC (compiled) version of the game works when using GMS2 made it so stats saving after finishing a level bugged out, so map would not be showing off your previous score, coins, time... This also caused that you would not enter the shop directly after finishing the tutorial for the first time but instead went to the map. Fixed.

Low

• Bullets didn't freeze on pause. Fixed.
• You could double-jump once on a game start even if double-jump was not purchased as an upgrade yet. Fixed.

So happy these were found so fast, and specially with the fact there were not more (well, at least not those that were found so far, hehe). All in all impressions seem positive, people like the art and layout... This is a good start in my opinion

Read More

World map

Before we see the world map (well, part of it) as it will appear in Goblin and Coins 2, let's first talk quickly of the "level end" screen. One of the most criticized things in the first game was that there were no level end screen with a feedback on how well a player did. My idea was to avoid cutting the flow of the game and to focus on the levels, story panels, the experience... Making the coins, time and all of the other "gamey" things sort of unimportant in the process.

But most experienced gamers hated it, couldn't cope with not knowing if they did well or not. So, one of the most wanted features for GnC2:

Now you will know that you have indeed finished a level in a video game, what your time was, how many coins you've collected... It will also calculate and auto-save your level score, and some other things. Mostly because we need to show them later in the map screen. Oh yes, the map!

Here it is! On the left side you can see a selected level's name, relative size, if you've finished it already, how many coins you've potentially missed to collect, and what was your best time. On the right side of the screen you'll see the visual representation of the world map, with a pointer in the shape of goblin's head, and levels represented by... kidney beans, of course.

All you see should be considered work in progress and not the final look of the game. 

Read More

World 5 on the way

After several days of improving world 4, improving GUI (mostly menus and prompts) and working slowly on tiles and sprites for world 5, I've released alpha 0.2.0.0 which features level 5-1 and all the previous improvements, including a bit better sprite for the Goblin. Finally, we get to see the Castle Keep... Well, not really. No pictures nor videos today, sorry folks.

Still waiting for the good people who are doing the testing on world 4 to report any bugs. Haven't started work on Legend besides making space for it in the main menu, but I have decided on five meals to be featured in the recipes. I'll do that alongside the world 5 levels during late October and November. I expect to have all the story levels and maybe even a challenge level by the end of November, when I'll start implementing Steamworks features (achievements, cloud save, leader-boards for challenge) and start closed beta testing of Steam version.

Release date? Still not sure, but either early December or late January most likely. Depends on the progress and my other duties in life.

Read More

Testing and improving world 4

I've spend almost the entire afternoon working on the game. Sadly, most of these things you'll never see because I decided to reverse those changes. My first idea was to make levels prettier for screenshots by adding fake platforms in front of the main ground mass. It did look nice, but as I feared, it was very much confusing and distracting for players. After checking out some NES and Genesis classics on Youtube, I've decided to keep the "less pretty" but more practical layout.

Afterwards, I started drawing tiles and a background for world 5 and even made 70% of an initial level... but decided to scrap that too because the idea I had didn't really play well with mechanics and rules I set for the game. Don't worry, I do have another idea, but for another day.

Then I decided to add even more support for x-input gamepads, by adding the option to set your own preferred threshold for the analogue joystick. So far I've been using 50%, which means you had to press it with your thumb half-way to the side in order for command to be registered. Now you can set it in 5 steps from 40% to 80% with default value set to 50% as before.

I've also started preparing space for Legend, the new feature that will be an encyclopedia of sorts for the game world, creatures, recipes... Achievements will also fit here nicely, so I moved them from the main menu.

What else? I've created announcement sounds for the 4th world and implemented them, added an additional coin to the same world so there's total of 100 gold coins inside and around the village, and... I've started testing a new font.

I think that's it for today.

Read More

Working on the 4th world

I've started working on the world 4 the other day. It's gonna be called Sleepy Village (not so sleepy, as you'll be able to see) and it will be split into three zones; there will be transition from swamp to forest surrounding the village, then meadows and fields and gardens, and only in the end, the village itself. After having all those hard jumps in world 3, we're going back to "action" sequences with lightweight environment puzzles, as can be seen in this video showing off the brand new level 4-1:

I've already finished level 4-2 (available in the build 0.1.2.0) and it offers the player to solve some problems in order to continue further along the path, but it's still pretty much linear and action-oriented. Now, after the forest, goblin will enter the fields and that will introduce even more traps and enemies... That I have to make first. Here's what farmers will look like (from draft on paper to working enemy in game):

Anyway, world 4 is planned to have the most variety in appearance of its levels, and so far it looks I'm gonna achieve that.

Read More

Alpha!

I've declared the latest build alpha. This comes after a year of development and 36 pre-alpha releases. The game is definitely stable enough, there's 60% of planned content already and all the reported bugs have been fixed. Next - improvements, more content (2 worlds left), testing, more improvements, more testing...

Read More

Minor improvements, Alpha coming soon!

After the initial feedback on the last version, build 0.0.3.8 is available for download in Windows and Linux (Ubuntu) edition. There's nothing new content-wise, but there are some important improvements that plyers have been asking for for a while now.

• Added a short pause after re-spawn so players don't accidentally die again by sliding into a nearby trap. This was the most wanted function lately and I think it will help casual players a lot, but am not sure if I should also keep it for the "old school" difficulty level. I have time to think about it and gather feedback as my focus for now is on the casual mode, with intention to define rules for old school at a later point.
• Added ability to reset keyboard keys to default setting. Not many people asked for this but it should be useful.
• Added support for D-pad on gamepads (alongside analogue stick). Apparently I forgot this basic function before, so it's here now. Really hope it works as intended, as I don't have a gamepad yet so I can't test it. Thinking of getting Logitech F310, it has Xinput and a nice shape.
• Improved tree tiles in world 3. Basically I re-positioned the holes in the trees and made them a bit bigger, but more importantly, I added "transparency" to emulate entering the shadow that the tree is casting.
• Improved ghost sprites in world 2. Added more shades to make it look more natural and changed color of secondary variant completely... Might reverse that based on feedback.

Please note: Promotion to alpha is long overdue. There's no known game-breaking bugs for months now, game works just fine and graphics have been improved a lot lately. I'll change development status from pre-alpha to alpha as soon as I'm happy with the amount of testing this version receives.

Demo has been updated as well.

Read More

World 3 complete, game content at 60%

Build 0.0.3.7 is available now and with that, world 3 is finally complete. After some testing and potential fixes, I will change the status from pre-alpha to alpha. It's been overdue for some time now. Anyway, here's what's new in this version:

• Brand new level 3-7
• World 3 boss fight
• 2 new story screens for world 3
• Fixed tree openings graphic for world 3
• Fixed some tile placement on world 3
• Added an underwater detail to hint that depths are dangerous
• Fixed a small inconsistency in level 1-7
• Added a tutorial hint for opening doors in level 1-1

Some World III Gameplay:

Read More

New level, knock-back reduced. Alpha coming soon!

Hello! There's a new version available and it brings many major and minor improvements and additions. Two most important are a brand new level 3-6 and knock-back from enemies and traps being greatly reduced. This means if you're standing on a narrow platform and a bat/ghost/wasp touches you and hurts you, you won't bounce off it like before and end up in lava/spikes/water depths. Instead, you'll just bounce in place, become invulnerable for a time and destroy the enemy that hurt you.

The rest of changes are minor but not negligible:

• Fixed some misplaced tiles in world 1
• Mine shaft lamp in world 1 animated
• Changed the hurt effect and destruction effect for the Golem King boss
• Added new background tiles for world 3
• Added new type of destructible platforms for world 3
• Changed the look of vine leaves platforms (again, world 3)

Please note: Promotion to alpha is long overdue. There's no known game-breaking bugs for months now, game works just fine and graphics have been improved a lot lately. I'll change development status from pre-alpha to alpha after the world 3 is done. That means one more level, 2 story screens and a boss fight. I might also improve animation/looks for the ghosts in world 2 for this occasion.

Read More

New level available: 3-5

Version 0.0.3.5 is now available to the early supporters and it brings a brand new level with many smaller improvements, mainly for the world 3, Gassy Swamp. It also introduces spiky vines for the first time, which is something you'll encounter more and more during the travels though the world 3.

Here's a short list of all the things new and improved:

• Level 3-4 moved to 3-5
• Brand new level 3-4
• Fixed some problematic tiles for a first tree on 3-1
• Moved the first snake on 3-2
• Fixed leap of faith on 3-5 (former 3-4)
• ROUS nerfed (speed, sight)
• Floating leaves synced better (to be seen and potentially finely tuned)

Read More

New level available: 3-4

A fine day for a new update! Apart from a (weird) new level, there are some minor improvements to the story graphics (you know, static panels that are shown while there's some story being typed by an invisible typewriter) and maybe even more importantly, I've reworked the parallax scrolling backgrounds for the world 2, Cursed Graveyard... to make it more "graveyardy".

See, there are dark purple tombstones as the first background layer now, and the hills are lowered a bit. Is this better now? I can't tell...

Read More

New level available: 3-3

Pre-alpha 30 is now available to the early supporters through their respective download pages over at itch.io and it features a brand new level for the Gassy Swamp. I wanted to add some new gameplay elements to the third world but only one of the things I've been working on was ready for this release, and it's a new kind of trap, so be careful out there!

I've also used this opportunity to fix something that has been bothering me for a long time, and that's positioning of some coins in level 2-6. I've intended them to lead the player through some challenging jumps but never actually moved them to the final positions... Well, that's done now. The rest of the changes you can find in the list below, it's nothing game changing... or maybe it is, who am I to judge?

[Major] Build 0.0.3.3

• New level (3-3)
• New trap (mechanical spears)
• Improved shading on the falling stalactites in world 1
• Changed the tone of ax throwers so they are more easily distinguished from regular skeletons
• Added new announcement sounds: Ax thrower, Rous, Wasp, Milipede
• Added new tiles (transition grass2stone, decorative shell)
• Changed coin placement in 2-6 to better lead the player through some challenging jumps

Read More