Which team are you on?

A huge shoutout to Shmeeple. Without him this post wouldn't have been possible.

Today I hit 100 hours on Aseprite. It's now my 4th most played "game" on Steam. Please stand by I gotta put a handful of more hours to it before I can show what I've been working on.

Now I shall go outside.

Side note. Been figuring out smear frames and they are pretty fun to draw.

OK SO I GUESS SOMETHING SNAPPED AND I CAN DRAW LIKE A BEAST WHAT THE HELL

Once again that time where making art feels very sluggish to make but I still try. I'm guessing it's because of low amount of freetime and needing to worry about exams and stuff. I want to be done with college already since it ends in a few weeks. I will miss it though. It has been a fun time there.

What I don't understand is that when I try to draw "normally" stuff just doesn't work out how I want it to. It doesn't look how I imagine. But when I make character sprites I can create some pretty expressive and well posed sprites. I guess it's a high resolution VS low resolution issue.

Who won? Who's next? You decide.

Like everyone knows I've been working on a new game. "A new IP" you could say, so no it won't be a sequal or a spinoff to Painter Blazer. I'm working with the 3rd dimension now. I've done a lot since the last "hoverboard game prototype" post.

Progress is good, great even. For a bit the game looked really ugly but in the last week or so I've been able to get the game or more so the map to look rather nice. Still need to make more sprites and textures to make it feel more alive. I also need to see if I can get it to look a bit nicer with lighting and maybe some particle effects, though those can be left for later. It's not ready for a teaser/first showcase yet but hopefully soon.

I've also learned A LOT about how to make the code suck a lot less because I'mma be real Painter Blazer's code is horrible. Way less things needing to be loaded and way more assets and code is shared between parts of the game. Way easier to edit too on my end.

If you read this far then here is a tiny teaser. The acronym for the game's name is "GBS"

I want to write them down here so those rare 2 people who care can read them. If I skipped a game it's because idk what to say at all.

Going in order of the Direct starting with

Mario Kart World:

Ok so the game looks like an amazing and fresh take on the Mario Kart series. The new mechanics are awesome. My number one biggest request has been fullfilled. Nabbit getting to be playable because he is my favorite Mario character. Seeing all the random armless Mario enemies being playable (like god damn Fish Bones) is very bizzare.

Seems like a lot of the mechanics from Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed have been put to Mario Kart World. Like turning your kart to a car or a boat depending of the part of the track. It is a fun gimmick and I wonder if Mario Kart World will be able to do it better than Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed.

Now I have some personal... let's say problems with the rail grinding, rail tricking and multiple air tricks mechanics which I might go to detail one day.

GameChat:

A very needed feature with some lacking stuff. It is a million times better than whatever the mobile app was. But it has some problems. First of all the video feature looks awfully laggy on both game streaming and camera feeds. It looks like maybe 15fps. 4k 60fps is obviously very unnecessary but there should be at least options to choose between "low" and "high" depending of your internet quality. Low could be how it's shown in trailer and high could be a bit better resolution at like 30fps. The camera addon I don't mind being sold seperately because I won't buy it.

Now the biggest lacking feature. Why is there no text chat. I still need to use my phone to text people if they wanna play which feels stupid when a VC with streaming is on the console.

GameShare:

Download play is back from the Nintendo DS and god damn that is such a nice feature. It's just plain good to exist.

The actual console itself:

Oh boy so:

• Bigger screen and full HD expected and needed.
• Better audio good to have though I never thought the audio was bad on Switch 1.
• Mic neat. Up to 120fps on handheld is just wow how the hell.
• 4k upscaled on TV is awesome but I can't use it (my TV is full HD).
• Same thickness is good, don't really care.
• Magnet Joy-Cons are interesting for sure but I personally never had an issue with the rails.
• Bigger Joy-Cons makes sense and is better but again I had no problem with the size on Switch 1.
• Mouse mode is very cool and new for a console, I like it.
• Didn't Switch 1 already have 3D sound.
• Better stand is nice but looks a bit worse than Switch 1 Oled.
• I knew the two USB-C ports were used for addons (Switch 2 Camera).
• 256gb of storage is necessary.
• Ok good the console doesn't feel like it's over heating with the help of dock fan.
• Backwards compatibility was necessary and it's great that it's there.

Nintendo Switch 2 Digital Tour:

Why the FUCK is it paid. Like seriously why can't there be any small pack-in games. This would be perfect for it but most will skip it because of, I'm guessing, 20€ to 30€ price tag. Stylistically it reminds me of the Nintendo Labo hardware showcase modes of all things.

Other console features:

• Game cards being red and the same shape and size is good. Easy to recognize from Switch 1 games.
• Normal micro SD cards not working is fine since the console has a lot more storage and it makes sense since they are slower. Hopefully express cards aren't a lot more expensive.
• Pro Controller 2 looks good, same design with new features. I love how Pro Controller 1 feels so I'm glad they used that design with a couple new features.

Release date:

Yeah June 5th is a good one. That's it.

Switch 2 edition games:

So these games are basically paid DLC plus better resolution and frame rates. The games don't need to be bought a second time if already owned which is great. It's pretty much normal paid DLC. Sure 4K 60fps being paid stings a bit but if you already love the game and have completed it might as well buy more content to it. Better than how Sony went about it.

Drag 'n Drive:

Wheelchair basketball made in to a video game. Funny concept but the trailer didn't show much more than that. Expecting it to be Switch 2's ARMS.

Third party games:

• Elden Ring is a great launch title but don't care.
• Hades 2, don't care.
• Street Fighter 6 confirming that amiibo aren't dead is awesome.
• Daemon X Machina Titanic Scion yeah idk never heard.
• Split Fiction huh?
• EA Sports games zzzzZZZZ...
• Hogwarts Legacy never saw a Harry Potter movie.
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 I'd honestly probably like but why does it have Spongebob levels of all things. Not that I mind, it's just funny.
• Hitman World Of Assassination yeah don't care.
• Project 007 we saw nothing.
• Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster JRPG who gives a damn.
• Yakuza 0 Director's Cut Yakuza games look hilarious so yeah good add.

Hyrule Warriors Age Of Imprisonment:

Zelda fans are gonna be mad and I'm not a Zelda fan thankfully.

Nintendo Switch Online:

NSO Gamecube emulator being Switch 2 exclusive is something I predicted. Yeah it sucks a little but eh if you got a PC you know what to do. They won't have Smash Melee on the service for a while. Also only 3 games at launch like what the hell it's just .ISO files. Controller mapping is great though and should be added to NSO N64. Also yet another GCN controller for Smash Bros.

More third party:

• Deltarune I'm gonna be real the game is in my opinion overrated. It's not a bad game but it's just ok. It's an RPG where the fights are the most fun part and everything else gets kinda boring and yes I did play the first two parts and do not have any feels to buy more. Wait was that SANS THE SKELETON??
• Borderlands 4 uhhh yeah I have no clue about this series outside of the name.
• Civilization VII ok.
• 2K sports games ok.
• Survival Kids ok yeah I just don't got any feelings for these.
• Enter The Gungeon 2 they said roguelike I know someone blue and cuboid who I could mention lmao.
• Starseeker Astroneer Expedition what can I even say? Idk.
• Cyberpunk 2077 apparently it's actually kinda good now.
• Final Fantasy VII Remake JRPG JRPG JRPG.
• Hollow Knight Silksong oh hey it exists lol.
• Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S I like Puyo Puyo Tetris it's neat.
• Shadow Labyrinth one hell of a Pac-Man game very interested to see if it's good.
• Fortnite we like Fortnite we like Fortnite we like Fortnite

Kirby Air Riders:

Masahiro Sakurai working on a new Kirby game is really cool and interesting. He hasn't done that in years. No gameplay sadly.

Donkey Kong Bananza:

Holy shit it looks fun. This is a great replacement for early Switch 2 life 3D Mario. Hell it looks even more fun than a Mario game. I love the visuals and I love how the movement looks. It feels very different. If I had the console I'd 100% buy it. I don't even mind the new DK design. He looks pretty awesome but yes I will miss the old design.

Price:

Now this is important. 470€ is a lot it's a bit over my absolute maximum prediction, 450€, but ir didn't hit 500€ just yet. Why is it 20€ more expensive here even though dollars are less than euros and it's $450 in USA is beyond me though. But what sucks a lot is that it comes with no games at all. I wouldn't mind it but no Switch 2 games aren't 60€ anymore, they aren't 70€ either like PS5 games, they are fucking 80€ which is ridiculous. Why are they so damn expensive. Seriously? Just make it 70€ like Sony did if you must raise prices.

Overall:

I have majorly positive feelings towards the games, console and features but towards the pricing I'm really negative. It is simply very very expensive with the game price increase, no pack-in games, Europe tax and Nintendo Switch Online.

Do I want to get the console seeing my favorite console ever is the Switch 1? Absolutely. Will I buy it close to launch? Hard maybe. Really depends how much my work has payed by then, how busy I am and starting military next year means I can't use it for more than half a year before needing to leave home for a while.

When it comes to my personal projects, why is it so hard to feel like I've done enough for the day? I could be working on something literally all day and I still wouldn't feel like I worked on it enough that day. It's a weird dilemma.

During recent times I've felt like I've barely had "enough" time to work on drawings or games. College and work do take a lot of time of course so I can't work on anything full time which is fine. I also try to meet up with friends often enough to not become isolated. I guess it's hard to really say for myself that "today I got good progress" on whatever I'm making yet I still absolutely don't wanna rush myself.

Now I don't have any schedules for my personal projects which I'm actually very very happy. Only "schedule" I have is that it would be good to post a drawing every month which I mostly always am able to do. Also what possibly causes this feeling is that I'm intentionally not showing certain stuff before they are in my eyes finished. It's to have a "wow" effect whenever I show it but thinking about it's not really worth it.

If you read this far then here is a little update on my new game I've been working on. I've gotten a bunch of sprites, mechanics, movement and what not done. I'll be showing a look at it once the first level has more textures in it to not look like just untextured objects mess.

I wish I knew how to make music because for my current project I'm going to be more picky in the type of music I want to it. Still would let the musician have pretty free hands on the actual music though.

I'll make a proper news post once I got actual stuff to show but I guess if you'd be up to let me know and I'll keep you in mind.