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2017.09.09 Boss 101 Tuning the Hats

Welcome to the Boss 101 development update and we hope you are doing awesome!

Tuning and polish CONTINUED!

As you know we are winding down the project and the last things on the list besides bug fixing are the tuning and polish for the game. Let’s talk about balancing the nearly 300 hats we have in the game shall we?

Hat Tuning

So, to deal with the AMAZING amount of hats and give you the most fun we did a few things…

First – we allow you to wear a hat for its ABILITY or its LOOK or BOTH. That is to say you can look one way and still use ANOTHER hat for its powers. This was something we added a while back when we realized you might find a nice hat you personally like but have another hat with abilities you need.

For us personally we appreciate when a game allows us to dress up our characters the way we want. We wanted to give YOU that ability too!

Equip a hat for costume, ability or both 

BERL walking you through how the store works in the tutorial

Equipping hats for both ability and costume examples

After the hats are in we then move into the handy dandy editor to assign abilities, balance things and adjust the cost of the hat.

All this is done in here:

Of course if you want to see where things REALLY start then you would look at this spreadsheet created with all the hats on it. It’s where the balancing starts. Initial numbers, powers and cost are laid out here and referenced as we transfer them into the editor.

Honestly, it’s a lot easier to start with a spreadsheet like this since you can look at everything at once as well as create relationships and track totals for things like “how many hats use the fire resistant ability” and stuff like that.

Example

Once done in there we transfer all the work from spreadsheet to editor and into the game

OK – this is a simplified look at the process but does cover the basics. Really it comes down to what feels right in the game and what feels the most fun for you the player. Spreadsheets and editors are only the start.

Thanks again for stopping by and remember to always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

2017.09.03 Boss 101 Big September Development Update

Hello and welcome to the Boss 101 Weekly Development Update!

Ship date and Project Status – hint – GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!

Let’s get to the main question on many people’s minds. The SHIP DATE for Boss 101 – aka “When can I get my hands on it?” First you will have to indulge us a little with a SHORT progress update before we start rolling on that hot topic. Between points look for screens and updates about various Boss 101 systems!

Picnic Time: Learn more about the characters and the world

Some points we will cover in this post!

1. Developmental Team Progress
2. Status of the Project
3. Expected Date Range
4. Plans for ship and beyond

Development Team Progress

OK, there is no way to simplify this one other than to just come right out with it. A giant confluence of personal events happened in the last few weeks that effectively slowed us down on the way to ship. We can’t and won’t bore you with the details but it involved not just one but TWO of our team having several important family events happen as well as what can best be described as an act of nature (FYI – this is Hurricane Harvey in the Gulf Coast and we live in the southern United States).

All of us are safe and fine and our families are doing well. I mention the hurricane mostly since it slammed us right around the time of the family visits and put some slight hiccups in the timing of our plans. All is getting straightened out so no worries.

I do mention this stuff because I want to be honest and straight forward with you about what is going on. I have said it before but we are three people and for the last three years we have pretty well worked ahem – rigorous game development conditions. (Also known as – eating lots of ramen).

No complaints here and we aren’t looking to make excuses. Thing is, we can’t ignore life completely during game development and this close to the end we do our best to stay completely focused. Alas, that just could not happen in the last few weeks.

Regardless, what’s done is done and now let’s move onto the next topic.

Kite Hill: Relax with your pal and your pet on Kite hill. Talk about life, ice cream and the universe!

Status of the Project

Going VERY well. We’ve been handing out BETA keys to people and getting great responses. At the same time there is a fine tuning pass and many bug fixes happening. This is all going about as well as can be expected and nothing super surprising has occurred at this point. Mostly, it’s just been solid work all the way through.

Still, we are determined to clean up the game as completely as we can FOR YOU and for us. This does mean some tuning and bug fixes are still in the works but we are really in that final stretch.

Refueling the Cosmic Clicks Ship Between Endless Boss Rounds

Game Attack – what out for the robo-fleas!

Shipping Date (Range)

Well, the short story here is we expect it out BEFORE Thanksgiving this year (that’s November 23rd I think). Really though we expect it out before that.

There are a lot of reasons for this thinking. There are no new features. We are primarily tuning and bug fixing and the work we have on the list is not pressing, it’s just time consuming. That adds up to not a lot left and a LOT of confidence on our end.

Still – that’s not an EXACT date I know. I can tell you this, the MOMENT we think we can drop the landing gear we will TELL YOU A SPECIFIC DATE! Right now, it just wouldn’t make a lot of sense to say Nov 23rd since we might be earlier and saying something too early only leads to frustration BEYOND the normal development frustration of waiting for a game you want.

We would LOVE to get the game in your hands in the next month and if we see that is a real possibility we will post on every site we can and broadcast it all over. Right now the ONLY reason we aren’t laying a date down is there is just enough stuff left and there was just enough of a production hiccup (see talking point #1) that I (Tim) feel we need a week or two to stabilize before getting a clear assessment.

Again – we are not holding on to the game for any reason other than quality for YOU. Please remember we do NOT have a publisher and all development comes straight out of our own money. Ours. Not a Kickstarter. Not a publisher. Not a gumball machine. Our own money pays for Boss 101 and so does our own time.

I know it can be hard to not have a simple date to look forward to but the whole point of Boss 101 was to make a game we felt right about and felt gave you the most value and fun. Laying a date down before we feel good about it doesn’t get you or us anything.

Trust us though – I’m sure MANY smarter people would and could have made Boss 101 in a different and perhaps faster fashion. Sure, sure. I can guarantee one thing though – the Boss 101 YOU play will be packed with as much FUN and VALUE as we can give you. We really hope you feel the game was UNDERPRICED at $9.99! HAAAAA! Wouldn’t that be nice! More game for you and a great price!

Tutorials from good ole BERL!

Play an Arcade Tank Game inside your Command Center – earn points and prizes!

Post Launch

This will be dedicated to any and all bug fixes found by ourselves and the community. Also we will be looking at consoles and other languages.

For the last two on that list (console and other languages) it is possible we may partner with the RIGHT publisher or team to create a console or language port. That does remain to be seen and it also will depend on YOUR excitement and purchasing of the game. We would love to get Boss 101 on as many console and in as many languages as possible!

Bonus talk – New Video

Oh yah – we are looking at creating a new video as we near the launch date. Lots of fun stuff to show you so look for that announcement too!

Lots of things and thank you for hanging in there! We are coming down to it and appreciate all your support and understanding. As always comment or questions welcome!

Remember to ALWAYS LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

2017.08.26 Boss 101 Update – Hat Contest Winners

Hello and welcome to the Boss 101 Weekend Update. Lots of news as well as results from the Suggest a Hat contest are in this update! Let’s get moving shall we?

Hat Contest Winners are HERE!

First off – we had originally planned to have three hats made for the contest but since there were so many great suggestions we upped that number to SEVEN. That’s right we picked seven hats from YOUR SUGGESTIONS to be put inside Boss 101. We had nearly 200 entries across seven websites and THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking a moment to suggest something to us!

The winners are below and as you look at them please consider the following points if you don’t see YOUR particular suggestion in the winning bracket.

– Some entries were copies or close to hats we already had in the game. As a reference we had nearly 300 hats in Boss 101 BEFORE the contest. Many suggestions ended up being close to hats we already had and they didn’t make much sense to do again.
– Your winning suggestion might have been combined with a similar suggestion. We had a few duplicates and some of these were chosen by the team.
– Your hat suggestion might have gotten modified to fit the Boss 101 style. This is not a slam on anyone’s suggestion but it is part of our effort to stick with the art style and game themes we have.
– Any suggestions we didn’t choose and isn’t already being done is now on list of possible hats for Boss 102. So much good stuff will not go to waste!
– If your hat idea wasn’t picked you’re still a good person and we love you!

Take a moment to check out the selections below. Each selection has a sample animation as well as a sample of the new bullet you get when wearing the hat.

Hat 1
Cat ears and paws bullet

Who doesn’t love to wear kitty ears?! You can in Boss 101!

Hat 2
Bin with garbage bag bullet

Take the trash out with hanging out in the bin

Hat 3
Old school bank robber and money bag bullet

Clean ‘em out!

Hat 4
Clown Hat with spinning water flower bullet

Clowns can be scary or your friend. You decide!

Hat 5
Bird Nest hat with bird and egg bullet

Look at those little cute birdies!

Hat 6
Old School Arcade enemy with retro bullet

Invasion Time!

Hat 7
The kind of a hat a cat might wear with umbrella bullet

You can have lots of good fun that is funny with this hat.

A sample of the clown hat with bullet in action in the game!

OK – hope you enjoyed this look at the winners and thank you so much if you took a moment to enter and participate. We appreciate all your support and words of encouragement as we near release!

Next week – Development News as we Near Ship!

Big development update next week so tune in then for news of our progress to shipping!

Till then thank you again and remember to always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

2017.08.20 How to Make a Hat for Boss 101

Hello and thank you for joining us again in another weekly Boss 101 Update. Let’s get on with the show, shall we?

How to Make a Hat in Boss 101

With all the talk about hat contests we wanted to revisit how we make hats for Boss 101. In the three plus years of development a lot of ideas have come and gone but hat making has stayed the same. Why you ask? Well, we hit upon a pretty simple way that works well for us though YOUR mileage may vary.

Boss 101 has limited animation on the main character. That’s as much a decision based on team size and time as it is on style. One of the side effects of this was making costumes or hats is MUCH easier. We basically use hat stickers to cover up the main character. This can be a partial or a complete cover but the result is the changing of the appearance.

Another nice thing is we can add in minor limb animation and eye blinks for maximum cuteness! Check out the behind the scenes below!

Setup with all hats in a file

Picking one to edit – animation check


Sprite test

Hat Test in game

Hat Contest Ends Today

Hop you got your suggestions in! We had a LOT of amazing suggestions and are going to have to pare down all the good ones. In fact we have SO MANY amazing suggestions that we will likely be putting any we didn’t pick on the Boss 102 list! You see how we are! We appreciate all your help and thank you again!

Look for updates and WINNERS in next week’s big update!

Reminder

We have a ton of great suggestions but could always use another if you have one!

Design a Hat for Boss 101. Well, more like SUGGEST a Hat for Boss 101! HAHA!

So yes, we are planning on getting Boss 101 in your hands soon and ONE LAST THING we are doing is running a contest to YOU to suggest a hat. Drop us a line anywhere (details follow) and we’ll collect all the submissions and pick one to go into the game in Boss 101 style. Suggest what you like but realize we will have to respect various licenses and copyrights. Also we will be taking any suggestion and Boss 101’ing it in our own way. You only need to supply a suggestion and we will put it on the list.

General Contest Rules and Guides:
– Entry is free and thank you for your support!
– Suggest any subject, theme or person you might like to see as a Boss 101 hat
– You can suggest anything – animate or inanimate!
– Please use common sense. Offensive or tasteless suggestions aren’t needed or welcome.
– If your idea is chosen we will do our best to bring it to life
– You can suggest in the replies here or mail us at hatcontest @ boss101.com (remove spaces)
– The contest will run three weeks

Thank you for your time and we appreciate all your support!

And as always – remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

2017.08.17 Boss 101 Screenshot, Hat Contest Last Days

Reminder

We have a ton of great suggestions but could always use another if you have one!

Design a Hat for Boss 101. Well, more like SUGGEST a Hat for Boss 101! HAHA!

So yes, we are planning on getting Boss 101 in your hands soon and ONE LAST THING we are doing is running a contest to YOU to suggest a hat. Drop us a line anywhere (details follow) and we’ll collect all the submissions and pick one to go into the game in Boss 101 style. Suggest what you like but realize we will have to respect various licenses and copyrights. Also we will be taking any suggestion and Boss 101’ing it in our own way. You only need to supply a suggestion and we will put it on the list.

General Contest Rules and Guides:
– Entry is free and thank you for your support!
– Suggest any subject, theme or person you might like to see as a Boss 101 hat
– You can suggest anything – animate or inanimate!
– Please use common sense. Offensive or tasteless suggestions aren’t needed or welcome.
– If your idea is chosen we will do our best to bring it to life
– You can suggest in the replies here or mail us at hatcontest @ boss101.com (remove spaces)
– The contest will run three weeks

Thank you for your time and we appreciate all your support!

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!