Ossu! It's that time again!

https://youtu.be/ZlP53E_IIVY

This week we're having a look at:

Humble Beginnings - icofriendly
Willow - philly13s
My first crappy platformer - Boomuded45
City jump level - PranksterGangser
Tower of fabric - rusnacu

It's a more hit-or-miss set-list than last week, but i still had a pretty good time with what we got. Hopefully there'll be something in there that catches your eye and you can have a good time with. As always, thanks for all the support and feedback, and i hope you have a great day!

Behind the Curtains Stuffs
i actually woke up in time to catch lsrs's stream this morning. It was completely accidental, and my brain immediately started screaming, "woah, woah, woah, this is way too early, even for me," so i guess the answer to "will i ever be able to catch the stream?" is "only if i stay awake long enough to do it."

We've got the title card, intro, and levels all recorded for next week's episode. Going to do the secondary recordings and outro (hopefully) right after i finish typing this up. Now, i'm not going to say anything inviting disaster, but i think it's safe to let you all draw your own conclusions there. (edit to add)Finished all that up, so we've just got the PiPs to insert for next week's episode to be in the bag.(/EtA)

Now, the downside to that is i've had to almost completely focus on just getting that done. This is the second week to come and go without an episode of LBsP, and that sucks. We've also got just enough Isaac in the backlog to carry us to...i think Monday? i have to check. This is...non-optimal. Well, nothing doing but to get out the shovel, i guess.

Drawing to a close with Gravity Rush 2. There're still a bunch of side-quests we're not getting to, and i haven't even touched the Raven's Choice DLC. Might do the side-quests as a non-live wrap-up episode, and maybe we'll come back to Raven's Choice. i think 14episodes straight (what it'll probably come to by the end credits) is long enough for one game in a stream. i've enjoyed it a lot, mind you, but i don't want it to wear out its welcome. Especially since the last one or two chapters we played were one, long, semi-interactive info-dump. i think even if i hadn't been playing to an audience, that would've started to wear just a little bit thin for me. It's the contrast between the high speed, flailing action of the meat of the game that gets me.

Oh, for you Gungeoneers out there, there was another, quite beefy, free DLC for Enter the Gungeon that came out last week. It added a bunch of new enemies, a couple of new bosses, and synergies between items and weapons (that i still haven't quite figured out). it feels a little more forgiving with key/heart drops, maybe even with ammo. It still kicks me in the teeth, but it's a bit more fun of an experience. Oh, and the balloon gun gives you flight, which was neat to find out.

Why yes, it is the Tuesday Takeaway.

Humble Beginnings - icofriendly
The contrast between this level, and the one following it (Electrical Entourage), is kind of weird. This one's look is pretty slabby, and beyond the movement of the mountains (which, itself, is a little too synced up) there isn't much to recommend it from a visual standpoint. The gameplay, as well, is exceedingly basic. The boss, at least, has its own goofy charm, so there's that. To be honest, if it weren't for the forced level link, i don't know that this one sells the adventure quite well enough, though i might have given it a little more before giving up on things. Like i said in the video, EE is really the one to play out of the two.

Willow - philly13s
Not tremendously much to say about this one, really. At least nothing that we didn't cover in the video. That bounce pad is still not set to static object, so we got to push it off the cliff again. The level is short enough, and well-presented enough to make it worth a quick play, but absent secrets or expansion, i can't see myself going back to it all that often.

My first crappy platformer - boomuded455
To be honest, this one really isn't all that crappy for a first platformer. It's actually there, as a level, and is fairly coherent throughout as far as gameplay. There are a few breaks in it, like with that balloon, but nothing egregious, nothing to put it in even the bottom ten of crappy platformers that i've played. Still, it does need an awful lot of polish, and it would be nice to have some music in there.

City jump level - PranksterGangser
i think you can actually hear my brainmeats slipping a gear when we're reading the title card and i notice, at the last moment, that it's PranksterGangser, and not PranksterGangster. Funny how the brain will parse text when it's expecting to see something that's not actually there. As far as the level, what can i say? The city area really needed to be built out more, it actually comes across as a tacked on extra compared to the (slightly) beefier space section. Not that you've got a lot going on in the space section either. Also...what was up with those HVAC units? i guess that's what they were supposed to be, but...man they were ug.

Tower of fabric - rusnacu
i think it's possible i graded this one a bit higher, because it came on the heels of a bunch of levels that were either not very good, or at least not living up to their potential. When i play for PiPs, maybe i should randomize the order of the levels. Still, this one does exactly what it sets out to do; it has a simple concept, and delivers on that concept in a fun, satisfying way. That has to count for something, right? It'd definitely be a fine addition to a playlist of cool-down levels, i think. Also, continuing with the theme of brainmeats parsing visual information...i don't know why i thought the two climbing sections used different coloured materials. Re-watching for PiP footage, they're clearly the same. That's just odd.

So, that's the that. Nothing jaw-dropping, perhaps, but in the main a solid lot of levels that, at least, are nice and short and easy to experience in their totality. Next week's set might not have quite the same going for it, but that's a tale for next week. As always, thanks for all the support and feedback, and have a fine day!

Behind the Curtains Stuffs
Continuing a thought in the Sackinima version of the thread, looking back at the events of the past few weeks...this is not going into the "will make a funny story someday" category.

We finally got an episode of LBsP out, and that's a success. i think we'll be able to keep to a once-a-week-at-least schedule, but...i have the feeling that saying that has just unleashed some slavering hellbeast out there, which is now quick on its way to screw with me somehow.

We got the dialogue input for episode 036 done, and that's nice. It needed a lot of paring down to keep it manageable, timewise, but there's only so much you can say in 2ish minutes when each little piece takes (about) 2.5seconds. It really is amazing how fast people actually talk, and how well our minds actually keep up with it. Spoken, you can cram a fair amount in a really short period. Anyway, the practical takeaway is the bit i had in mind might need to be split over two episodes...which does funny things with timing (why would a conversation take two weeks in the real world? You have to be able to justify that a little bit for suspension of disbelief). Ah well. With luck we might get the animations and cameras in today, which would let us get intro filming done tomorrow.