I just realized it's been well over a year since my last blog post. Considering all that's happened, I think some updates are in order! I'm currently working on more features for Slalomancers. Given the frontpage features and awards I've gotten on other games, it seems appropriate to explain why I've spent literal years polishing the one with the simplest graphics and the weakest reception.

Slalomancers was my response to a lot of shortcomings in the gaming industry I'd heard from other people as well as myself. The death of couch co-op, co-op games that felt like teammates were just playing next to each other instead of actually interacting, progression systems that made it harder for new and experienced players to play together, a mobile game market centered around gambling addiction, endless grinding, and emphasis on casual over competitive play.

Couch co-op was my biggest priority, so I started with a one-button control scheme that would allow up to four players to operate their characters at once, each player using a different corner of the screen. Allowing for full 2D movement and attacking made the skill ceiling far higher than games like Flappy Bird, as well as allowing more player autonomy than something like Geometry Dash; players could choose whether to engage enemies at short or long range, play aggressively or defensively, and strategically choose what order to engage enemy mobs.

Incentivizing actual cooperation was the next step, and since the single button each player had was already used for both movement and attacking, I increased the problem space of the game by giving enemies unique responses to being damaged; Hexguns lose turrets, Geysers slow down, and Snakes pause laying down their bullet trail, while Diffusers release extra bullets, Asteroids split into multiple copies, and Blockships change course to target the source of the attack. Even playing solo, these mechanics force the player to think strategically about how to engage a cluster of mobs. In multiplayer, teammates can draw fire or stun-lock one enemy while you deal with another. And that's in addition to being able to revive fallen teammates with bullets.

Because of how much flexibility the control scheme allowed (I had essentially created an Atari controller with one button) I added more modes to test the limits of the mechanics. Between Versus FFA, Versus 2v2, Ball FFA, Ball 2v2, Race, Maze, Custom, and 10 training exercises, Slalomancers effectively checked off the sports, racing, and roguelike genres. While Race wasn't as fun as I hoped, Ball and Maze are legitimately some of the most fun multiplayer experiences I've had.

As of now, the biggest issue seems to be getting players invested enough to spend the time improving. The absence of any kind of inventory, levelling, or skill system was done to privilege mechanical mastery over trying to dopamine trap the player. With enough momentum, the social aspect absolutely has the potential to compensate for this (players want to get good because their friends are already good at it) but any positive feedback loop needs a base case. Friends I've introduced to the game and coached through it have absolutely gotten addicted, but individual people stumbling upon the game are generally not interested in finding a friend to play with. So for now, Slalomancers seems to be stuck in obscurity.

Much as I'd love to see a game like this properly blow up (I could see it being insanely popular in India or Japan,) this was a game I made first and foremost for myself. What I wanted most was to have enough regulars for 1-2 full teams I could play with, enough for 4 advanced players to push absurdly far into Party Co-Op, to play a heated back and forth in 2v2 Ball Mode, or for two teams of 4 to create absurdly hard Custom challenges and try to beat each others' times.

As far as what comes next, I'm currently doing a deep rework of Custom Mode; previously, once enemies were chosen, they would spawn randomly. In Custom 2.0. the player can pick exactly where enemies go, making completion times more consistent across different attempts. In addition, players can specify a kill order for enemies, forcing players to use different strategies to survive enemies that can't be dealt with as soon as a match starts.

In addition, I'm adding another completion tier to Maze Mode; previously, you could get bronze, silver, and gold completions for completing a maze with any, most, or all of your health. Ultra completions will require the player to survive until the boss room with all of their health, surrender all of their upgrades, and defeat the boss room with no upgrades AND no damage. This is an extremely difficult endgame achievement I added mostly to keep myself challenged.

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Outside of Slalomancers, plenty has been happening, although it feels like no amount of output is ever enough to keep up with my ideas.

I released Slasher Click 2, a much, much larger sequel to Slasher Click, featuring the same strategy RPG + Superhot mechanics plus a few new features and a surprisingly melancholic story.

I released OS-7C0, the third story in the Kabel series, focusing on what happened to Thane's daughter after the events of the first story, complete with primary sources as a framing device and unflinchingly dark politics primarily inspired by the history of the 1960s.

And I released Superweapon, a song about fascism that felt especially relevant given the current political climate.

After the current Slalomancers update, I would like to get back to working on the first Kabel game, as well as the story for the second Kabel game, a short story I'm calling Fervens, and a song that's about halfway done. As I said, too many ideas and not enough time.