Soundtrack, Theme Song, Launch Party

The official soundtrack to ChainStaff has all its volume 1 songs released today on Steam!

You can get it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4573800/ChainStaff_Soundtrack/

And to celebrate, the composer, Deon van Heerden created a full-on music video for the theme song "The Ultimate Weapon". Careful: it will get stuck in your head!

This past week I had a real treat. The dev team and friends and family threw me a surprise launch party for the game! They brought in the show props like the ChainStaff backdrop and the foam ChainStaff itself and even got me an awesome cake. 
Here are some pictures from it. It was a great surprise.

 

 

 

  

 

   

 

Thanks again to everyone that's played the game! 

ChainStaff is Out Now!

It's out on Switch 1 and 2, Xbox One/Series, Playstation 4/5, and Steam! 

Yup, the game I've been working diligently on for 7 years, starting back in 2019, is ready to play! 

If you enjoyed the demo on Steam for ChainStaff there's 9 more giant levels, weird parasite upgrades, and over a dozen giant bosses some of which are hard to figure out! And plenty of weapons too shoot at bunches of completely bonkers monsters while you go for the 6 different endings. 

 

If you didn't play the demo, check out this review: https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/75127/chainstaff-... 

Who am kidding, stop reading, go get the game!:D 

My publisher went out of business and I did not have marketing support from a big company. Instead of waiting to get the game 2 years from now, if you get the game at launch and leave a review, it helps sooooooo much more than getting it in the future. 

Plus you get to join in talking to other people on the discord about it while everyone's playing it together https://discord.gg/8PYEmJWxAT

This will help ensure I get to make extra content for it too. (I hope to release some free updates.) 

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2976260/ChainStaff

Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/chainstaff-switch/

Playstation: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10014011

Thank you! -Nathan  

Added New Ability to ChainStaff - Launch Getting Closer

Vault Ability 

As we continue to polish ChainStaff for the April 8th release date, I've got cool news. 

After loads of playtesting I realized we needed just a little bit of extra polish in the game. 

Behold--the "Vault Ability"!

This is a new, automatic move that happens to the player in the game. 

Any time you are next to a ledge, and you press towards it (left/right), you will automatically try to climb it just a little bit.

You don't climb all the way up walls.But you do kick off of them twice, giving you a tiny boost. 

You do not do a full ledge grab. That I feel would slow down the pace of the game. But you quickly do a small wall-hop and it lets you over loads of tiny spots you'd fall normally. 

Want to try it out? It's in the free demo on Steam right now! Is it better than a ledge-grab? Let me know what you think. 

Final Playtesting

If you are interested in playtesting the game before its release this April 8th, join my discord and ask around and I'll hook you up. 

The game is 90-95% complete and I am now smoothing out rough edges and looking for more bugs. 

We are getting close and I could use all the help I can get to find bugs in the game. Thanks! 

 

ChainStaff Launch Date, Pre-Order, Price, and Cheats Menu

Launch Date Revealed

 

I have cool news! We finally have a release date for ChainStaff. Steam, Switch, Playstation, Xbox, everything...the game is coming out April 8th. Check out the trailer for new monsters, weapons, and levels. 

Pre-Order Open 

Also big news--we have a price now: $14.99. And pre-order options are available! We worked really hard to get the game through all the annoying systems for Nintendo and Microsoft. (Sadly Sony doesn't let smaller games like mine get a pre-order. I did try though! ) Please wishlist it or pre-order it. It's a big help! This page has all the store links: https://chainstaffgame.com/ 

Cheat Codes Now in the Demo 

I just updated the demo on Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2976260/ChainStaff It is still the tutorial training level and level 1, but there is now also a Cheat Menu. 

How's it work? Well it takes simple words. But you have to *know* the words. And I put all kinds of wacky, helpful, powerful cheats in there. Letter-case does not matter. Spaces do matter in between words. 

Just go to Options->Cheats in the demo to add them. How do you find out the Cheats? You should join the Discord server. Also I will reveal a few sometimes in the newsletter.

I add some cheats on the Discord server. https://discord.gg/8PYEmJWxAT 

Enjoy! 

How I Built a Life-sized ChainStaff for MAGFest

I will be at MAGFest this weekend in Washington DC! It's June 8th to 11th. It's absolutely packed with awesome indie games, arcade games, and lots of amazing game music. Come out to the show and tell your friends about it!

ChainStaff was accepted to be shown in the "MIVS" division of the show. It's an indie-only section where cool indie games are previewed for the gaming public. You get a 10x10ft booth and you design it all yourself. 

My first idea was... what if you could hold a real ChainStaff?!? 

What would it be like? Check out this video as I detail the construction of it. 

 

It ended up being over 7 feet long, but thankfully only weighs about 5 pounds so anyone can wield it.

I also printed a backdrop of the main game box art, and you'll get to pose in front of it with the ChainStaff! 

This is inside my office; it barely fits! I'll do a new blog post when we get the real booth set up at MAGFest. The banner is 10x8ft. We had to take the picture sideways because the room is too small to fit. Thankfully the convention center is huge, so this will be awesome when we get it set up there.

The light fixture at the top obscures the game logo, but my idea was you'd get to "pry open the monster's mouth" on the box art with a real ChainStaff.

ChainStaff is due to come out to consoles and Steam this spring, so I'm working hard to get the word out for it. Thanks for following along on my journey! 

ChainStaff Demo Update - Difficulty and Story

 

Here's a video showing off some of the details from the new update. 

Updated Demo

I've gone ahead and added some cutscenes from the main game to the free demo that's on Steam. There are now two new story cutscenes at the beginning of the demo, where you can see the origins of the Star Spore invasion.

The demo update also has the ability to pick between Easy and Normal difficulty modes. The difficulty is hand-tuned for each level. There will be new attacks and more enemies in Normal difficulty. Easy mode might have more platforms to land on, plus you start with more player shields.

Here's the list of demo changes

1. Cutscenes added

2. Difficulty modes added

3. Now has 3 Save Slots

4. Dual Stick controls fully supported

5. Better button remapping

6. Game balance changes: Players don't retract ChainStaff on Damage. You now need a full heart to take an extra hit (not just a subheart).

7. Many more balances and game polish.

Want to join the Beta Playtest?

Come help steer the direction of the game balancing! I'm slowly finishing up the rest of the game and will be doing playtests soon. Join my newsletter to get in on it!

https://subscribepage.io/Mk6GOH

Let's Chat

And finally, I check Discord more frequently than most places:

https://discord.gg/8PYEmJWxAT

I'd love to hear from you there. 

How I Fixed the Camera in My 2D Platformer

 I've been working on ChainStaff since 2019! 

And while I finished Bumpy Grumpy and a few contract jobs in between, it's been a lot of good iteration and learning along the way to make a better platformer. 

One of the most important parts of a platformer for me is a good camera! And for me a good camera is one that you don't even notice. Check out my recent video here about how the camera works in ChainStaff. 

If you'd rather read than watch, then please read on!

Vistas

There a several special things I'm trying to do with the camera in ChainStaff. One of them is to create exciting fights and beautiful moments. 

Each level opens with a gorgeous vista of the new level. 

Level 4: Moss Islands

You get to soak it all in, the alien world, blowing leaves, lighting, nasty clouds, and creepy tongues swaying in the wind. Then when the player starts moving the camera picks up and starts following you. 

Another special camera I use is to have a vista combined with a big fight. The opening of level 2, the Dragon's Bridge has you launch straight into an epic battle with the Jet Dragon on a thin rock bridge. As you get closer to the dragon, the camera zooms into the action. If you run away, the camera backs up to capture you and the dragon in view. I like this a lot, but it's a bit unusual for 2D action games to pull back quite this far. I carefully designed several fights in the game to take advantage of these huge views, while still remaining fun and fair. 

The Dragon's Bridge: Look how tiny you are!

Less Is More

For most of the action of the game, the direction I give the camera is "only move if necessary". 

Basically I follow the Miyamoto method developed as far back as Super Mario World. 

There's some great videos on how he designed the camera there. I use similar direction in ChainStaff. If you are jumping up, the camera only moves up with you, if you actually jump up to a new platform. If you are simply hopping up and down, I don't follow the player up and down. If you make the game like that, the camera is really spazzy and it's hard to see what platforms or enemies you're going to land on! It's much better to keep it still unless you land on new ground. 

Swing Town

One tricky area for ChainStaff is making something that works with the wildly swinging grappling hook. 

You are attached to a grappling hook, and swinging left and right fast. If I simply follow the player, it's very hard to play.

The direction I use instead for the camera is to follow the attached point of the grappling hook. This works because its in between of where the player wants to be. The player can swing left/right fast, and its easy to focus on the action. As soon as they let go, the camera smoothly transitions to then following the player again. 

These are the three main areas and methods I use to make for a smooth camera experience for the platforming and shooting action in ChainStaff. Check out the video for more details, but also check and see how Miyamoto did it for Super Mario World. As usual, he's a master!

Thanks for reading and please wishlist ChainStaff, thank you!.

Bumpy Grumpy Tourney and PAX West Soon!

 

New York City Trip

Bumpy Grumpy is in residence in TWO prestigious arcade cabinets in New York City, so my wife and I decided to make New York City our destination for our family trip.
(Header pic: So much amazing cream cheese)

Was the Empire State Building visit awesome? Yes! Am I scared of heights? Well, you can see it in my eyes :D

New York City Arcade Scene Is Big!

Wonderville Arcade is in Brooklyn and it's got an amazing collection of "indie game arcade cabinets". These are often one-of-a-kind arcade experiences. If you are in the area, you've gotta check this place out!

Wonderville Arcade Home Page

Bumpy Grumpy Tournament Results!

I had organized a high score tournament for Bumpy Grumpy with Mark from Wonderville. So on the Saturday evening of our trip we took a subway ride from Manhattan over to Brooklyn for the tourney. Remember: the game is out on Steam so people can practice at home--but its very different to play on an arcade cabinet in front of a LIVE audience!

It went like this. We took sign-ups for all to play. Then each contestant got two runs. We went through all players once, then a second time. Mark wrote their scores on the whiteboard. And I got to commentate!

The end result was lots of Bumpy Grumpy games, lots of cheering, shouting, and screaming, and lots of fun! Congrats to the top 3: Nick, Blaze, and Mark!

Bumpy Grumpy and the NYU Game Center

We also got a tour of the NYU Game Center in Brooklyn. Gentle reader--let me tell you--their "library" was enviable. It works just like a regular library, but you get to check out GAMES instead of BOOKS! And the faculty there often give students assignments like "Your new game is similar to this one from 2002. Your weekend homework is to check out the game in the library and play it to see its design." How cool is that?

ChainStaff Demo at PAX West!

The honestly-fantastic publisher for ChainStaff, Null Games, is flying me out to Seattle to show off a demo of ChainStaff at PAX West.

If you've not already wishlisted ChainStaff on Steam, please do! It's a huge boost for me. Every wishlist helps me as it moves the game up through Valve's automated lists, which gets us in front of more people. And that means more sales and more weird games for you!

My next big game is an action-platformer with a transforming grappling hook.

Here is the Null Booth info for PAX West. Null Games has a great collection of games coming out in addition to ChainStaff and Null always has AMAZING SWAG for giveaways, so please stop by.

Player Animation Progress

And finally I'll leave you with a recent video I made on the player animations in ChainStaff!
Happy swinging.

Building an Arcade Cabinet, Part 5: Panels Galore!

In my last post I talked about finishing the all-important side panels. These are important because they are the defining shape of the cabinet! We had to match the iconic Occidental Designs style of the big curve on top.
Wait, did I say I was finished with cutting them? Yeah, right! I was only getting started. 

Because I hand cut them with a jig-saw and measured with a circular saw (as opposed to a CNC machine doing it with computer accuracy), my two side panels, which need to be identical were a bit off. 

So I spent several days in December cutting them and refining them some more.

Here the two panels are compared to each other. You can see the back one is higher than the near one.
I need the edge to match as closely as possible.

I clamped them together to carefully compare them.
Straw bales were actually really helpful to hold things upright!

Here is the tricky inside curve. You can see slight discrepancies between the two panels. I used a power sander to smooth them down to match each other.

Cross Panels

While the side panels are usually an interesting shape, the cross panels are pretty boring. They are probably all rectangles all the same width, but of different heights. They are the horizontal pieces and include obvious things like the control panel (where the buttons and joystick is), the front kick plate, the back panel for access, and the top. 

The middle is the side view, the left and right are all the rectangles that form together to make the horizontal parts of the cabinet.

The cross panels are easy to cut once you get everything clamped down nicely. It still takes me about 15 minutes to make a cut each time, because I keep checking it, lining it up, clamping it. You really want to take your time on all these cuts. It makes a big difference. 

I actually got to take one large piece of melamine and cut it long ways down the middle, into half. My cabinet is 24" wide. The board is a touch over 48". This made it easy. But I had to be very careful ripping the board all the way down the middle to get the cut perfectly straight. 

If some of my cross panels were 24", but some were 23.5" across, then it would make the cabinet wonky. 

Some of the bigger panels, all labeled.

Here are some of the not as tall panels (all still 24" wide).

Getting ready for a cut. Everything is clamped down. The table that splits apart was very handy to have a steady working area.

Checking the size.

Handing Over the Batons

I needed lots of little wooden "batons" to connect all the cross panels to the side panels. I bought some pine trim board that was 1"x2", by 12 feet long. I then measured and chopped these up to the proper lengths. After it was all said and done I should have bought 3 boards of 12 foot long (not just two boards like I started with).

The screws I used were 1.25" and 1.5" depending on how much it could connect to. It is very important to pre-drill all the holes so no material bulges out or breaks as you drill the screws in.

The lighter colored rectangles are the trim board chopped up. This is me comparing the size and seeing how much space will be on the edges when it is all put together.

Don't get excited yet--this is just dry-fitting all the pieces! I lay them all out, no screws, no glue, to make sure it all makes sense.

 

I then spent lots of time actually adding the panels for the base, kick plate, and back side parts, to one of the side panels. It took a while to line up and to clamp as I drilled and screwed. Also I used the pocket hole jig a lot, to drill in from the inside, to the outer panels so no drill heads will show. 

 

Here is a specialty "locking vice c-clamp". It reaches way out and inside, to grip things in situations just like this. It's easy to open and unlock then re-lock quickly to exactly the spacing you just had it at.

The inside baton that will hold the TV platform was hard to do! I had to tape it, and ensuring both batons matched each other took a lot of measuring and checking.

I bought a "pocket hole jig". Totally worth the extra bit of cost to get sunken, long holes to connect screws at an angle.

The oval cut on top on the right is where you put the screw into it. You can see the screw protruding. I'll screw it into a panel and get a very nice fit!

Slowly coming together.
If you can get another person to help you on this day, it's great!

Pocket Jig magic!

Perfect December day in the Midwest :D
Gloomy and cold!

Closer still.

How do we get the one piece with all the panels connected to the other side? At first I thought it would be good to lay it on its side, but this was dumb. 

Instead, with my son, we tipped both panels up. Some of the cross panels drooped a little bit, but as we held it together by hand, and slowly screwed everything together but it was a bit tricky.

Screwed and glued. Mega clamps for the win.

That’s when I remembered that, long ago, I had seen some giant clamps on the farm. My dad has done lots of carpentry work over the years, including building our house back in the 1980's! He has lots of tools laying about the farm. It took some time to locate the clamps. But they were excellent and it would be tough for me to think the project would go so well without them.

Once I clamped those onto the sides, seeing the gaps draw in close was a wonderful feeling. And then getting the screws into the panels and see it all draw up tight, it was so exciting. 

All panels are connected!

 That's it for this installment. 

Lots of drama and laughs are coming soon to the next post! Stay tuned.