I really gotta stop pushing updates without playtesting them first. I'm in the middle of being assessed for ADHD and if something comes out of that then maybe that'll help me.

V1.6.2 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

• Fix infinite lives cheat not working

First, a couple of announcements. Over the next few weeks, I'll be attempting to add NG API integration to my existing PICO-8 games, giving them scoreboards and/or medals. I'm having some teething problems, but hope to get those ironed out and start rolling things out by February. (I'd love to do this with my TIC-80 games, especially Prism Indigo, but sadly TIC-80 doesn't have the same GPIO functionality as PICO-8.)

More pertinently, though: Prism Warriors is back in development! Currently, I'm backporting the changes from Prism Indigo v1.6 into the Warriors build, and once that's done I'll be focusing on finishing the remaining boss fights.

In the process of doing that, I've identified a couple of minor issues, so here's a quick patch to stamp those out.

V1.6.1 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Black Label cheat score multiplier not being applied correctly (DX version only)
• Removed redundant code from menu system

I forgot to post the actual update notes, haha whoops. Here you go.

V1.6 Update Notes

Additions

• New “Easy” difficulty:
• ----Start with 9 lives instead of 5
• ----Bosses have 25% less health
• ----Bosses’ patterns are slowed by 25%
• Cheat menu:
• ----“Standard cheats” make the game easier but disable achievements and high scores
• ----“Black Label cheats” make the game harder but provide a score multiplier (DX version only)
• Two new achievements (DX version only)
• Confirmation popup when deleting your save data
• Audio cue if you try to fire a Burst without enough Burst Gauge charge

Changes

• Removed “Prism Mode” and replaced it with an “Infinite Lives” cheat (existing Prism Mode high scores can still be viewed)
• “Standard” difficulty has been renamed “Normal”
• Toned down the exploding Shades
• Rounded off the achievement icons and cursor
• Minor UI adjustments

Bug Fixes

• Fixed broken difficulty selection (free version only)
• Fixed current high score always showing as 0 when in Hardcore difficulty (DX version only)
• Fixed locked or DX-exclusive game modes not being shaded out
• Fixed locked Compendium and Sound Test entries not being shaded out

Merry Christmas, and happy holidays! I come bearing gifts: a massive update for Prism Indigo, plus news of my plans for 2024!

The main outstanding criticism was that Standard difficulty was too hard, yet Prism Mode was too easy. I wanted to address this while still retaining the option to give yourself infinite lives, for accessibility and debugging purposes, and my solution is twofold.

Firstly, Prism Mode is gone. In its place, I've added an Easy difficulty, that tones down the bosses and gives you some extra lives. I can tweak it later if people still find it too difficult. Secondly, I've added a "Cheats" menu, available from the Options screen, where you can give yourself infinite lives - as Prism Mode worked before - or other game-breaking buffs. These will, however, disable achievements and high-score saving, and are disabled in Hardcore difficulty and Prism Hunter mode.

But what if you want more of a challenge? Well, the DX version includes some special "Black Label" cheats, that rearrange the game to make it even harder. These don't disable achievements or high-scores, and actually boost your score multiplier when active.

Alongside these upgrades are the usual raft of bug fixes and quality-of-life changes. (I actually extensively tested this update, so there shouldn't be any further bugs for once!) And in the spirit of Christmas, I've launched another sale on itch.io, so you can get the DX version for 30% off until January 8th.

But why such a big update, after all this time? Well, that brings me on to my plans for 2024. Obviously, I plan to finish and release Prism Warriors sometime next year, but more importantly: I plan to release both Prism Indigo and Prism Warriors on Steam. I want both games to be as presentable as possible for when that happens, and regardless of how it turns out, I want to be able to say that I have released a game on Steam. Not every dev can say that.

Aside from that, I'll be continuing to enter Ludum Dare, and I plan to try adding API integration to my old PICO-8 games (and my TIC-80 games if possible!), to allow for things like medals and global leaderboards. There's also my upcoming Toy Boy Jam entry (that I'll be rushing to finish, having taken Christmas off!), plus a couple of other projects I'd like to dredge up if I have the time and energy.

This has been an excellent year for me. Six Seats Left has become one of my most acclaimed games ever, and Fruit Fall and Deliver Us From Evil were also fairly well-received. I'm in a new apartment, I'm in a loving relationship, and in two weeks' time I'll be having my long-awaited ADHD assessment. All things considered, I'm in a much better place now than I was earlier in the year, and I'm hoping to keep that going until 2024.

Onwards and upwards!

Want to inject some colour into your Black Friday? The DX version of Prism Indigo is currently 30% off on itch.io, and as part of their Creator Sale, 100% of the revenue will go directly to me!

Prism Indigo DX features all the brutal bullet hell action of the free Newgrounds version, plus:

• The ability to play offline
• The exclusive Hardcore difficulty, plus the unlockable "Prism Hunter" boss rush mode
• The game's soundtrack, totalling almost 30 minutes of chiptune goodness

The sale ends on November 28th, so check it out while you can!

Thanks to everyone who played and rated Six Seats Left during Ludum Dare 54! It ended up being comfortably my highest-rated entry since LD44, and my highest-rated Newgrounds submission outside of my Madness scene creators! While I'm a little disappointed it didn't make the monthly top 30, it did get selected as the preview icon for Newgrounds' LD54 collection, which is a tremendous honour.

As a way of saying thank you, Six Seats Left has been updated to V1.1, addressing some of the feedback I got from the jam and adding a few things I didn't get to include initially. Next year, I'll hopefully get to release some games other than Ludum Dare projects.

V1.1 Update Notes

Additions

• Dialogue can be fast-forwarded by pressing Z

Changes

• Alice and Caitlyn’s dialogue noises are now much quieter
• The intro now fades in
• Added clouds in the sky during the intro
• Added a pathway leading into the game area (what happens if you try to leave?)
• The target arrow is now animated
• Minor code tidy-up

Bug Fixes

• Fixed candidates facing the player when boarding or leaving, instead of looking where they’re going
• Fixed candidates clipping through the fencing and/or the side of the boarding ramp while boarding
• Fixed candidates clipping through the fencing when leaving

My Ludum Dare 54 entry, Six Seats Left, is out now!

You are the captain of one of thousands of rockets preparing to flee a doomed Earth. There are fifteen people waiting to board, but only six seats left. Who will you choose to save, and who will you leave behind?

This ended up being quite ambitious, and I'm proud of how it turned out. Please give it a go here, and if you're taking part as well, feel free to rate it as well!

It's been a busy few weeks for me, and I'm still going to be busy over the next couple of weeks, but development on Prism Warriors should resume soon.

​Today marks one year - 365 days - since Prism Indigo was released into the world. To celebrate, I've put together an anniversary update that adds a few quality-of-life features and visual tweaks. And that's not all! Until May 27th, the DX version is now on sale for just $3.65 - a 27% discount. Pick it up on itch.io while you can!

As a final anniversary celebration, I've created a virtual pinball table based on Prism Indigo, which you can download here​. You'll need Future Pinball and the BAM mod to be able to play it - you can get those here​.​

Unless any bugs pop up, I intend for this to be the final update to Prism Indigo, and to resume development on Prism Warriors within the next few days. There should be more updates to come in the following months, so I hope you'll look forward to it.

V1.5 Changelog

Changes

• Difficulty settings have been grouped together into a single “Story Mode” sub-menu
• Locked or DX-exclusive game modes are now named and shaded out
• Locked Compendium and Sound Test entries are now shaded out
• The text displayed during the bad ending now says “BAD END” instead of “GAME OVER”
• The “Black” UI theme is now fully monochromatic
• Art improvements for some of the Shades in Stages 4, 5, and especially 6
• Adjusted text shadow colour

​Bug Fixes

• Fixed player not being given infinite lives if they got the bad ending in Prism Mode and chose "Retry"
• Fixed a rendering bug in the legacy effects system

Deliver Us From Evil has been patched to v1.02, with a couple of minor changes based on feedback and my own observations. This time, I actually do intend to produce another patch, as there are still things left to fix before the jam ends.

Changelog:

• You can now turn while on ladders
• The sound when pushing boxes is shorter and quieter
• Removed a misplaced background tile on Level 11

Deliver Us From Evil has been patched to v1.01, fixing all the major bugs that have been identified so far. I don't expect to make any further updates, unless more easily-patchable bugs crop up.

v1.01 Changelog

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed the player being able to clip out of bounds by pushing a crate into a wall
• Fixed the player being able to clip out of bounds after pushing a crate
• Fixed the player being unable to climb back down a latter when they reach the very top