Super Mixtape V0.3.1.1A New art assets, menu change, feedback!

Edit: Build will be live within the next 24 hours or less. Testing all screen resolutions for scaling bugs in the UI and menu.

So far in the past week since the last update, I have been working hard on adding new statistics to the end of the levels, a big backend slug I needed to get done, and have been getting feedback and spending time with players. Looking at what can be improved, what they thought of some puzzle ideas and the outlines of the built in music player. I have also been hunting some minor bugs with specific controllers, and ultra-wide support. Also we have new art assets for the user interface in a Commodore 64 style along side the Xbox One style, so those using a keyboard can clearly see the onscreen hints and tips. I am planning on adding the music player pretty soon to give players a sneak peak of some of the audio to come in future levels. So far from testing, talking to players and just finding out what people think, i'm starting to get closer to thinking that the "feel" of Mix and how the main character moves throughout the world is fine. You may have also noticed that small updates have been pushed out with minor improvements and fixes, but not noteworthy enough to push a large update announcement. Rather than spam players with info, I'm going to keep these large update announcements to new features, weekly updates, or anything major. Then all small updates, bug fixes and tweaks will just be fixed, updated and added to this weekly/fortnightly update. If you missed it, Blot gaming news & reviews did a Super Mixtape Alpha: Preview review.

"The game still exists in its Alpha stage, so there is a long way to go yet but plenty of promising signs. A spattering of new and interesting gameplay mechanics on top of the tried-and-true platformer foundation make this game one to keep an eye out for when its gets its full release."

What's new in V0.3.1.1A

• New Menu - The intro screen has been massively improved and aligned with a more natural Commodore 64 style. Also looking at other "retro" styled games on Steam for what works / doesn't work. The levels are stacked like cassette tapes on their sides, then the acts for each levels are the inside of the cassette tapes.

• End Screen Statistics - At the end of each level, there are new statistics about your performance, with everything in place to add some additional statistics.

• Scaling - Minor screen scaling fixes.

• Back end updates - I have been investing a lot of time in updating some of the back end areas of Super Mixtape to allow players to mix and match custom controllers, the audio interface, how the audio is loaded and other minor fixes that have helped the overall performance of the game and it's potential scalability.

• Slow movement bug - I had a report of a bug where a player couldn't move on a very old laptop keyboard. I'm not 100% sure what the bug was, but I think I have fixed it, and they reported that it was gone, so I'm not sure if it's something I changed or something they have changed, but it has been highlighted and will be monitored.

• Minor improvements and fixes. Perhaps I should make the GitHub changelog public or publish on the Super Mixtape Steam forums?

New Menu, cassette fallen on it's back to show the bottom. A chance to remind players about only being able to move when the magnetic strip is touching the ground. Level select now shows a stack of cassettes for each level. Currently grayed out locked levels. Selecting each tape will change the skin and flash so you know which you have selected. After selecting a level you will see the list of acts in each level as the inside of a cassette case. End screen stats have been updated and now show how much tape as spooled in meters and the time in a more readable format (minutes and seconds) rather than just seconds.

What's next

• BUG - Going back up the menu doesn't un-animate the last known selected.

• More statistics to the end screen.

• Music player framework in place.

• Another pass on the menu system.

• More player testing.

• Update Level 1 Act 2, and 3 with checkpoints, section changes to stop players going back too far and getting too lost (tutorial is meant to start easy and progressively get more complex, but not as hard as further levels). Think about oscillating the difficulty.

• Animation for ending of level where Mix moves himself into the tape draw and the lid closes.

• Have the lid open when mix gets close.

As always, stay up to date with development over on Trello and on Twitter . Christo