OUTBUDDIES - a 16bit style metroidvania (with alpha demo!)

Julian82 · January 25, 2018 at 4:04 AM

Thanks a bunch [MENTION=21402]zip2kx[/MENTION]

AM_Games · February 2, 2018 at 2:25 PM

Quote from zip2kx

Looks great! I love that these games are coming back. really enjoyed Axiom Verge a while back and this looks familiar but different enough.
Will follow this!

I absolutely LOVED Axiom Verge. It seems I'm going to love this one too!

Nice work Julian82

Julian82 · February 5, 2018 at 10:45 PM

[MENTION=30565]AM_Games[/MENTION]: Thanks, Buddy^^ That comparison honors me every time XD Cheers

Julian82 · February 5, 2018 at 10:52 PM

Cuz I had performance issues in some rooms I decided to go for resources-friendly pre-baked waterfalls in that game. Also had the stupid idea I needed slopes. Both cost me an awful amount of time to make, especially none of my AIs was designed for handling slopes o_O Now both is luckily done.

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SHINBAXTER · February 5, 2018 at 11:52 PM

wow! :O

hadn't checked this thread for quite a while....the games looking WAY BETTER!

keep up the good work buddie!

Julian82 · February 7, 2018 at 7:24 PM

[MENTION=16055]SHINBAXTER[/MENTION]: Thanks so much:) I've the gut feeling that all my efforts in the last months to become a more consistent artist are slowly paying off. When I post on social media now I get a lot more interactions and stuff going on than about 6 months ago. Anyway, there's still a looong and probably tedious way to go if I want to match what great titles are already in the pipeline for 2018. This will probably be one of the best years for the genre ever, with highly acclaimed games like Iconoclasts, Death's Gambit, Timespinner and HFA hitting the scene (just to name a few). Not neccessarily the best year to release a Metroidvania myself actually o_O Cheers

Akiat · February 7, 2018 at 11:33 PM

Wow yes! I remember browsing this forum last year and finding this game, the step up in art quality is a big improvement, good job, looking excellent!

SHINBAXTER · February 8, 2018 at 12:37 AM

the top screenshot with the waterfall & the big structure in the middle looking like the yellow devil megaman boss has a real studio ghibli vibe to it.

& all we can do is try our best, then release it. learn from our mistakes & make our next game even better (actually i think i need to take my own advice XD)

mario 1, mario 3, super mario world, just keep advancing like a knight on a horse with a javelin! >:D

Julian82 · March 21, 2018 at 9:36 PM

Thanks so much, guys!

[MENTION=16055]SHINBAXTER[/MENTION]: Great find, this Ghibli thing. I had been deeply impressed watching Castle in the Sky and Nausicaä some years ago. I had never realized tho how much these movies have influenced the game's storyline and characters. I watched both again in the last week and was quite shocked - hopefully, Miyazaki won't kick my ass XD

There's also some little progress to show. I reworked the game's platforming mechanics which now allow wall jumping. The tileset shown is from the third area, the Corridium Mines, enemies need to replaced, the new Wuzei species is still WIP and will be influced by calamari.

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Julian82 · March 25, 2018 at 9:59 PM

New enemy WIP

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Volnaiskra · March 31, 2018 at 12:53 AM

The claw attack looks fantastic. Nice squash and stretch and anticipation of the movement. I particularly like the messy, splashy debris during the swing, and how the head wobbles and deforms during it.

Consider incorporating some more of that wobble and splash into the spinning attack, and adding some wider splatter to the brain-busting death animation.

You could also animate the bottom (torso, claws, face) during the death more; currently that area hits a point where it more or less freezes while it waits for the head to finish bursting. Consider making the eyes pop even more (or, conversely, make them close or turn to X's). The limbs could move outwards from the body to suggest limpness, while the torso could tilt and sag a bit more continuously.

Akiat · March 31, 2018 at 3:42 PM

Quote from Julian82

New enemy WIP
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This looks like such a cool enemy to fight against, though maybe making the explosion on his head seem a bit more violent might do wonders!

Julian82 · April 4, 2018 at 7:24 PM

Thanks a lot for the input, guys! I really appreciate it:) guess I’ll watch some Fist of the North Star tonight and go from there XD

Klownzilla · April 5, 2018 at 10:58 AM

You've really nailed the 16 bit feeling. This looks really cool!

Julian82 · April 6, 2018 at 6:12 AM

Thanks, man! I stopped calling it 16-bit style btw (cannot change the thread title tho). My stuff does not qualify in terms of complexity and shading techniques (I was educated about this immediately after I had put this on steam XD). I personally think that complex pixel-patterns do not read very well on modern monitors anyway, so I'm happy with how Outbuddies looks today. The classic 16-bit style shines on low resolution and CRT, but not neccessarily when scaled up on sharp HD displays. Metal slug probably is the easiest way to demonstrate how real 16-bit art looks. I guess the Fusion game coming close to this effort is probably HFA.

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Julian82 · June 21, 2018 at 8:04 PM

Hey guys,

I've not posted much progress in the last months, so here's some stuff I've been working on.

New trailer (tilesets already outdated tho XD; in-game soundtrack by OGRE)

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New tilesets, finally got real wrapping auto-tiling to work, happy that the old blocky look is gone.

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Also, I missed the Kickstarter release date I had aimed for, development had been quite troublesome in the last months. You can read about it on Please login to see this link., in case you're interested (or want to avoid some of my mistakes :P)

But there's also great news. I'll team up with Clickteam and HeadupGames to bring Outbuddies to major consoles. Still a long rocky path to go, but I could not help myself and made a mockup O_O

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chrilley · June 22, 2018 at 3:44 PM

Looking great! Auto-tiling is something I really regret dismissing early on in my game. Your tiles look very organic and fluid now!

Also huge congrats on the Switch port! I can imagine it must be incredibly exciting to release your very own game on a Nintendo console

zip2kx · June 23, 2018 at 1:27 PM

Very cool stuff and congratulations for a bright future!

Julian82 · June 28, 2018 at 8:24 PM

Thanks, guys:) This thing still feels kinda surreal, so I'll kick my ass to get this damn code done by the end of the year.

Emerson3 · June 29, 2018 at 4:07 AM

Julian82,

I am so blown away by your dedication and progress! I just watched your latest trailer and thought how awesome this would be to play for my kids! You are almost at your goal, keep it up! What you focus on expands, and I can tell you've been focused!

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