Happy holidays!

So earlier this year I estimated that Floppy Heroes 2 would be on Steam by the end of the year. It’s currently the middle of December, so… what’s the current state of the game? Well, some things had taken a bit longer than expected (*cough* the item creator *cough*), but the good news is that the game is almost ready to be released! I’m currently estimating that I’ll have the game for sale on Steam Early Access in either January or February.

Back when I first announced a sequel to Floppy Heroes about two years ago, I explained that my main goal in doing so was to take everything I had learned about game development up to that point and rebuild Floppy Heroes from the ground up so that I could turn it into an even more enjoyable game. I was overjoyed with all the support and suggestions I had received from all of you, and I really want to follow through with my promise of crafting a bigger and better experience. Of course, that sort of promise takes a while to follow through on, especially when you’re a single developer handling all the coding, art, and whatnot on your own. It certainly doesn’t help that I intended to include features I had never implemented before, such as in-game modding tools, multi-language support, and Steam Workshop integration.

ItemCreator
(It took many, many hours to make this thing. The item creator, that is, not the sword)

Fortunately, all the individual pieces eventually started fitting together, all the items on my to-do list started getting crossed off, and now we’re almost at a point where I feel ready to start selling my weird little game.

As mentioned above, the game will initially be available in Early Access. The reason for this is that I want the community to have a strong say in the final shape of the game. Back when I created a discussion thread asking for ideas for the sequel, I was flooded with lots of awesome and interesting ideas. Some of these have already been implemented, some are still sitting on my to-do list, and no doubt some totally new ones will be suggested once people have had a chance to try the game for themselves!
At launch, Floppy Heroes 2 will feature singleplayer and multiplayer modes similar to the first game, plus some new stuff such as the Item Creator. From there I will gradually implement and iterate upon all the planned features and popular suggestions.

Battle_Day
(Relive it all again… but now in 3D!)

A feature that was always highly requested for both the original game and the sequel is online multiplayer. Originally I stated this was infeasible due to complex physics (ie. ragdolls) being quite difficult to reliably synchronize over the internet. This is kind of a big deal when your game revolves around crashing ragdolls into each other. Fortunately, Valve recently released a feature on Steam that provides a simple and awesome solution: Remote Play.
If you don’t know about it yet, Remote Play basically lets you play with your friends over the internet by streaming the game and sending controller input. Since the game is just being streamed, we don’t even need to think about pesky stuff like synchronizing physics and whatnot.
Long story short, you’ll be able to play Floppy Heroes 2 online with your friends! Hooray!

Another new feature, albeit probably less exciting, is support for multiple languages and community-made translations. Basically, all the in-game text (ie. buttons, labels, tooltips, etc.) is stored in an external JSON file that can be easily modified by anyone. The idea is that cool people fluent in non-English languages can translate the text file and share it on the Steam Workshop or wherever, allowing players who are not fluent in English to equally enjoy the game. Once a language file has been added, it can be selected from a dropdown list located in the in-game options menu. I will be sure to include a more detailed guide on creating and sharing translations when the game is released.

Translation
(But seriously though, you’re a cool person if you’re willing to translate all of this)

So yeah, that basically sums up all the big stuff. I’ll be working hard to ensure the game comes out within the next month or two, and I’m eagerly looking forward to reading everyone’s thoughts and suggestions when they can finally play the game for themselves!

-Rimply