It's pretty damn wild to think it's been 7 years since TAGAP 3 and already 2 since TAGAP 4. Especially the latter came as a bit of a shock, since half of this year feels like it disappeared thanks to health problems I've had. Luckily most of it is behind me at this point and I can focus fully on what's next for TAGAP.
Also a huge thank you to everyone who has reached out, it's been a great motivational boost to hear from folks still playing the games to this day!
To celebrate, a new piece of spoiler free art. This is actually a frame of the storyboards for a cinematic of The Next Game, re-done as a digital painting. After doodling the assets for the in-engine version, I noticed it actually works well as a less-busy wallpaper.
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First things first, I've been trying to get back on schedule with the Next Game. The development isn't going as fast as I would like, but it is getting there – and once it does, it is time for more TAGAP 1-4 updates. I'm sorry it's been taking this long.
On the plus side, the Next Game is progressing significantly better than at the start of the year. The first proper level is in the works, the secondary gameplay is shaping up (yes, there's more than one kind of gameplay) and the rendering engine is basically all done now.
If you've kept up with any kind of news, you've most likely heard that Twitter is borked and making folks run away in troves. I'm still going to keep posting updates on over there, but I won't be posting new art – screenshots or digital paintings over there. So if you like using the ex-bird-app, you will still get all the updates on all things TAGAP, but in text-only-form. I don't monetise TAGAP myself, so I'll be damned if I'll let a billionaire make money off of it.
However, if you wish to get the updates with all the media – and don't want to lurk on TAGAP website regularly – you can do that on BlueSky.
ICMYI, BlueSky is basically Twitter from 10 years ago. Aka, good and with organic interactions as opposed to bloated and filled with bots. And no, Jack Dorsey hasn't been involved in ages, if that is your worry.
The first full level, slowly progressing through it and tweaking things as I go. Since the whole rendering pipeline has been changed, I'm not 'grayboxing' this one, but filling in all the details from the start. Normally I do a 'draft' version with just vectors, map objects etc. to test gameplay, but with this one I'm testing things out with each element.
Naturally this means the first level takes a lot longer to assemble than what comes after, as there won't be as much trial-and-error on what works and what doesn't. The trial and error part is mostly related to rendering, which is done a quite different. I hope I showcase it proper soon.
And when I need a break from that, I'm working on the 'secondary' gameplay. The gameplay of the Next game is split into two very distinct styles. The engine can handle both – even at the same time, technically. This is less of a brag, but to ease your worries of this taking way too long to set up; it's all handled by the same frameworks and is just down to tweaking values.
Playlist is a regular feature in our Penguin DT blog; A chance to highlight cool games both old and new that I've been playing. As always, I believe that in order to make games, you need to play them, preferably with a broad scope when it comes to genres, so each day I dedicate at least an hour to actually playing games. The rest of the free time? There is no such thing, it all belongs to TAGAP!
Backlog adventures continue. Most recently I've been going through indie horror games that I've had waiting their turn for varying lengths of time.
The most patient one was Darkwood by Acid Wizard and physical versions by Limited Run Games. It has been on my shelf for a long time and yes, it's darn amazing. Less you know about it going in, lore and world wise, the better, but to sum up, it is basically split into two halves. During the day it works like a brutal and unforgiving survival horror game you'd imagine – think top-down Silent Hill blended with some-but-not-too-much Souls-like DNA. You venture out into the wild, loot things and craft things to aid in all the above.
But at night it basically turns to the original Evil Dead. All you can do is hunker down in the cabins while the entire forest wants you dead and breathes of pure evil. Even if you managed to board all the windows and fuelled the generator to keep the lights on, the forest has its ways. It's great!
Go grab it. It is very brutal in terms of difficulty and at the start you might feel like bouncing off of it – I know I had the initial thought – but persevering past the first bumps revealed a darn rewarding horror game.
The second one I want to mention is The Tartarus Key by Vertical Reach. It's an escape room style puzzle horror game where you play a young woman trapped in a mansion filled with horrors and deathly traps – containing other victims you'll try to rescue.
The Tartarus Key has a very unique vibe to it. The horror is more part of the setting than gameplay, as this is way much more about puzzles than survival parts. The player's life isn't in danger for the most part, but the other victims trapped in the house are a whole different matter. The ending depends on how many victims you manage to save and some of the traps are nothing short of devious.
I really liked the story, too. As an icing on the cake, the game mimics PS1 style wobbly low-poly aesthetic but with some detail improvements – like dynamic lighting the PS1 wouldn't be able to pull off. It all comes together as something different and memorable.
The Next Game; Finishing the first level is the main goal – and the first step to the game reveal.
In terms of Playlist; Still many backlog titles to go through. If I continue the horror binge, another game I've been meaning to play for ages is Lone Survivor by Superflat Games. FFS, I've had the physical version waiting there since 2016!
