Author Topic: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 4 is finally here!  (Read 24317 times)

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Current Version: Alpha 4
Download: Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 4

Changes:
-Stage 5 (Airship Assault) and Stage 6 (Hakurei Shrine) added!
-Cirno has been added as a miniboss and now replaces the second Black FOE encounter.
-Shizuha Aki has been added as a boss for stage 1.
-The Stage 3 miniboss has been made weaker and it's projectile attack is less rage-inducing.


Known Bugs:
-Minor glitch that occurs if falling faster than a certain speed. Does not adversely affect gameplay.

Controls: (all but "Start" are listed in-game in the tutorial room)
Start - Enter
Movement - Arrow Keys
Jump - Z
Fly - Z repeatedly in midair
Inhale - X
Shoot - C
Quit - Esc

To-Do List:
-Add Stage EX.
-Add more variety of minibosses.
-Add the rest of the bosses.
-Add more background elements to Stage 1.
-Implement a "collection" sidequest (akin to the rainbow shards from Kirby's Dreamland 2 or the Crystal Shards from Kirby 64)
-Correct or replace the pre-boss music track.
-possibly extend the vertical scrolling border (Again...)
-possibly add point tokens, such as coins or stars.

Old versions:
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 1
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 2
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 3
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 3.1


This is a platformer game I'm working on called Yuyuko of the Netherworld (or 冥府の幽々子 if Google translated it right...). This is essentially a Kirby game with Touhou characters (Like Yami no Rumia (I think that's the title), but I did not know *that* game existed until after I started this project.). The gameplay is closer to the original Kirby's Dreamland (with added elements) with one stage per level and no copy abilities. One of the reasons I joined this forum was because maybe some Touhou fans could help develop this idea.

Here's my ideas for the game so far:

Possible Story: One day a mysterious darkness spreads itself over Gensokyo. The darkness is centered above the Hakurei Shrine, and the usual incident solvers: Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame have mysteriously not done anything. Somehow it all comes down to Yuyuko Saigyouji to save the day.
Spoiler:
The darkness was caused by vengeful spirit, Mima, discovering a powerful item that allowed her to bring an entity known as Dark Matter into Gensokyo. She decided to use both Dark Matter and the item to wreak havoc, unaware of the great risk to herself.

Stages:
Spoiler:
-Stage 1: Welcome to Gensokyo (Green-Greens style level)
-Stage 2: Scarlet Devil Mansion (should be pretty self explanatory)
-Stage 3: Kappa Industries (an Eternal Engine) style level, last part is in midair.)
-Stage 4: Gensokyo Skies (Bubbly Clouds)
-Stage 5: Airship Assault (sort of like Revenge of Meta-Knight from Kirby Super Star.)
-Stage 6: Hakurei Shrine (Mt. DeDeDe)
-Stage EX: Hyper Zone (The final battle)

*Contributions for Midboss and Boss ideas would also be appreciated!
Midbosses:
Spoiler:
-Stage 1: Cirno
-Stage 2: Koakuma
-Stage 3: Giant Mechanical F.O.E.
-Stage 4: Yukkuri Marisa
-Stage 5: Undecided
-Stage 6: re-fighting all previous minibosses.

Bosses:
Spoiler:
-Stage 1: Shizuha Aki (Whispy Woods)
-Stage 2: Remilia and Flandre Scarlet (Lololo and Lalala)
-Stage 3: Nitori Kawashiro (Kabula)
-Stage 4: Marisa Kirisame (Kracko)
-Stage 5: Youmu Konpaku (Meta-Knight)
-Stage 6: Reimu Hakurei (King DeDeDe)
-Stage EX: Mima (Nightmare), Dark Matter, and Zero 2

Also, here's some play-test videos, showing how the game looks so far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJtGca0MDpM - Montage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43vJT4U3sIs - Stage 1 boss fight
NEW! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-q7zlMEa50 - Alpha 4 - Stage 4 (Now with actual in-game sounds and music)
« Last Edit: May 02, 2014, 01:37:46 AM by Evil_Nazgul0616 »

Kaze_Senshi

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game)
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2013, 11:16:54 PM »
Interesting video, it seems pretty fun to play, looking for it.

Spoiler:
About the first boss, maybe you should choose one of the Aki sisters to be it

My youtube channel with my creations: https://www.youtube.com/user/KazeSenshi2929
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Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game)
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2013, 11:26:19 PM »
Spoiler:
About the first boss, maybe you should choose one of the Aki sisters to be it

Funny you said that, someone on another forum I'm a member of suggested the same thing. The problem is
Spoiler:
The game is not set in autumn, so it won't make any sense for either of them to appear. Another suggestion I got was the Saigyou Ayakashi, but that won't work either for obvious reasons. (primarily being it can't attack because it is sealed and why would Yuyuko attack it?)

PhantomSong

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game)
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2013, 02:10:46 AM »
How about Yukari? Her attacks could be throwing things out of gaps and send Chen and Ran out to hurt you.

Kaze_Senshi

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game)
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2013, 02:38:55 AM »
Funny you said that, someone on another forum I'm a member of suggested the same thing. The problem is
Spoiler:
The game is not set in autumn, so it won't make any sense for either of them to appear. Another suggestion I got was the Saigyou Ayakashi, but that won't work either for obvious reasons. (primarily being it can't attack because it is sealed and why would Yuyuko attack it?)
Spoiler:
You can change the palette of the stage in the boss fight to let it looks like autumn, when you beat Shizuha you have an excuse to let all green again, like Sonic & Knuckles first boss xD

Or you can change the "wood with a face" to a "Kanako's onbashira with a face" :P
My youtube channel with my creations: https://www.youtube.com/user/KazeSenshi2929
( ゆっくりしていってね)>

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game)
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2013, 02:43:09 AM »
How about Yukari? Her attacks could be throwing things out of gaps and send Chen and Ran out to hurt you.
I was actually thinking of having her as an optional boss
Spoiler:
I'm thinking of adding an arena mode akin to Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Return To Dreamland, and have her appear at the end of it as a Grand Doomer/Magolor Soul style boss
Spoiler:
You can change the palette of the stage in the boss fight to let it looks like autumn, when you beat Shizuha you have an excuse to let all green again, like Sonic & Knuckles first boss xD

I guess that could work. Now all I need is sprites...

Kaze_Senshi

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game)
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2013, 04:25:29 AM »
I was actually thinking of having her as an optional boss
Spoiler:
I'm thinking of adding an arena mode akin to Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Return To Dreamland, and have her appear at the end of it as a Grand Doomer/Magolor Soul style boss

Spoiler:
Phantasm Stage plx
My youtube channel with my creations: https://www.youtube.com/user/KazeSenshi2929
( ゆっくりしていってね)>

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game)
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2013, 09:04:11 PM »
Spoiler:
Phantasm Stage plx

I was thinking perhaps that too, remember: This game is still in it's infant stages.

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game)
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2013, 03:18:56 AM »
At this point progress on the game will be very slow until I get a spriter.
If anyone wants to volunteer, that would be great!

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Alpha 1 is out!
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2013, 03:01:43 PM »
still waiting for a spriter...  :V

In other news, Alpha 1 is out!
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 1

Current features:
-Nearly all of stage 1 (minus the boss fight)
-The first room is the "tutorial room" which has panels showing you the controls for the game.
-A variety of enemies.
-Miniboss encounters.

Controls: (all but "Start" are listed in-game in the tutorial room)
Start - Enter
Movement - Arrow Keys
Jump - Z
Fly - Z repeatedly in midair
Inhale - X
Shoot - C
Quit - Esc

Known Bugs:
-None as far as I can tell.

Kaze_Senshi

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 1 is out!
« Reply #10 on: June 18, 2013, 11:27:39 PM »
I played a bit, it is fun but I think that it needs more background elements. I didn't find any bug so far. Maybe you should avoid to let those boxes that you can Inhale close from the ceiling because it is hard to inhale them there.
My youtube channel with my creations: https://www.youtube.com/user/KazeSenshi2929
( ゆっくりしていってね)>

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 1 is out!
« Reply #11 on: June 18, 2013, 11:44:04 PM »
I played a bit, it is fun but I think that it needs more background elements. I didn't find any bug so far. Maybe you should avoid to let those boxes that you can Inhale close from the ceiling because it is hard to inhale them there.

Thanks for the feedback!  :)

I will eventually go back and add some background elements to that stage. Stage 2, which I'm working on right now, will have a lot more background elements (I'm making the tileset as I go).

As for the inhaleable blocks, The ones toward the ceiling can be inhaled if you jump and inhale in midair, but usually if I have them that close to the ceiling they serve more as an obstruction. (You don't necessarily have to inhale every single one of them anyway...)

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #12 on: June 20, 2013, 06:15:59 PM »
Yuyuko of the Netherworld - Alpha 2

New features:
-Added nearly all of stages 2 and 3 (minus the boss fights)
-More enemies, some unique to specific stages.
-Added a unique miniboss to stage 3
-The Black F.O.E. serves as a placeholder miniboss for now.

Known Bugs:
-none, as far as I can tell.

To-Do List:
-Add the rest of the stages.
-Add more minibosses. (after I get a spriter)
-Add Bosses. (ditto)
-Add more background elements to Stage 1.

Now With Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaRuwld1ryM
« Last Edit: June 21, 2013, 08:36:21 PM by Evil_Nazgul0616 »

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2013, 07:25:15 PM »
I am unable to continue progress on this game at the moment for two reasons:

1. I need a cloudly tileset to start work on stage 4, and I can't draw clouds on a computer to save my life. I'm still waiting for someone to respond to a request I made on another forum (GMC).
2. There is still the problem of not having a spriter, so I still cannot implement more minibosses and bosses.

I will take this off of hiatus when at least one of those issues is resolved.

I'm also starting to think that nobody cares about this game anymore...

Helepolis

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2013, 05:52:01 AM »

I'm also starting to think that nobody cares about this game anymore...

Spriters are rare.

People not caring is an invalid judgement. I could write a whole essay about this but let me just say that perhaps you should focus on completing the game rather than releasing bit-by-bit versions. Have you ever seen "real" games being released in 100 versions? I haven't.


PhantomSong

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2013, 10:37:08 AM »
Spriters are rare.

People not caring is an invalid judgement. I could write a whole essay about this but let me just say that perhaps you should focus on completing the game rather than releasing bit-by-bit versions. Have you ever seen "real" games being released in 100 versions? I haven't.
As Hele said, non-professional(or rather commercial, you know, get paid for their work) spriters are scarce. I'd love to sprite your game, however... I'm lacking in my skills currently... Have you considered using the Mystical Chain sprites instead? er... scratch that... I realized it may not provide the needed sprites...
« Last Edit: June 26, 2013, 10:40:13 AM by PhantomSong »

Imosa

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2013, 04:39:37 PM »
Where else are you asking for sprites? There are forms dedicated to indie game development. There are also mutiple art reddits. However I expect most people in both those places are interested in getting paid.

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2013, 06:08:20 PM »
Where else are you asking for sprites? There are forms dedicated to indie game development. There are also mutiple art reddits. However I expect most people in both those places are interested in getting paid.

The Game Maker Community (GMC), though nobody has replied to my requests there yet...

Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #18 on: June 26, 2013, 06:37:33 PM »
I started playing through the game, and I got to the library of Stage 2 before stopping.
Some things I want to say:
The midbosses were pretty hard. Everytime I jump over them, I can't get down before the stars disappear. I usually just farm before the midboss and just keep shooting.
Yuyuko was always ahead in the screen. I cannot see anything in front or above me.

Besides these things, I really enjoyed this game. I can't wait to see more.
Currently a normal player

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #19 on: June 26, 2013, 07:50:08 PM »
Some things I want to say:
The midbosses were pretty hard. Everytime I jump over them, I can't get down before the stars disappear. I usually just farm before the midboss and just keep shooting.
Yuyuko was always ahead in the screen. I cannot see anything in front or above me.

Were you jumping or flying? if you just plainly jumped you can get the stars. If you are flying, tap the inhale button once and you will fall like normal (I probably should've mentioned that mechanic earlier  :V) allowing you to get the stars before they disappeared.

As for the "ahead in the screen," I never really found it troublesome myself, I could try to extend the "margins" (Distance from an edge that Yuyuko has to be before the screen scrolls.) of the screen slightly in the next version.

Helepolis

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #20 on: June 27, 2013, 09:10:14 AM »
The Game Maker Community (GMC), though nobody has replied to my requests there yet...
As I said, spriters are rare. And if there are spriters out there, they are not always eager to spent tremendous time on spriting for you or other people. Spriting is quite effort afaik, compared to other forms of graphical art.

Also noted previously here by others, you could pay an artist to get you sprites but that is up to you.


Kaze_Senshi

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #21 on: June 27, 2013, 03:50:04 PM »
Spriters are rare.

People not caring is an invalid judgement. I could write a whole essay about this but let me just say that perhaps you should focus on completing the game rather than releasing bit-by-bit versions. Have you ever seen "real" games being released in 100 versions? I haven't.

As far as I noticed while creating my own game, people really don't like to follow a lot of versions releases, it is normal to they start to lose their interest until see the final product. I think that releasing a lot of versions is valid only if you game created a super mega hype (you can see some examples on indieDB ), you want to get more feedbacks about something really new in your game or you want some motivation for a really long project. So don't expect constant feedbacks if you are planning to follow this strategy.

And when I have some time I'll try to play this new version to give more feedback ;)
My youtube channel with my creations: https://www.youtube.com/user/KazeSenshi2929
( ゆっくりしていってね)>

Helepolis

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #22 on: June 28, 2013, 06:43:48 AM »
As far as I noticed while creating my own game, people really don't like to follow a lot of versions releases, it is normal to they start to lose their interest until see the final product.
Exactly. A major pitfall which a lot of Danmakufu and non-dnh scripters seem to do here on our forum section. I don't personally particular mind, but if I have to point out: I rarely see true unique activity in those threads. Only version spam and occasional same people replying.

I think that releasing a lot of versions is valid only if you game created a super mega hype (you can see some examples on indieDB ), you want to get more feedbacks about something really new in your game or you want some motivation for a really long project. So don't expect constant feedbacks if you are planning to follow this strategy.
In my opinion, no that is a very bad idea. A hyped game means it has a lot of attention but there is no reason to micro-release updates. Might as well satisfy people for hyping your game by giving them what they want: The full game.

People are just abusing the alpha/beta word and version numbers because they think it is appropriate doing so. My highly disagree but that is just me.

Dark Kitsune

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #23 on: June 28, 2013, 07:20:58 AM »
Exactly. A major pitfall which a lot of Danmakufu and non-dnh scripters seem to do here on our forum section. I don't personally particular mind, but if I have to point out: I rarely see true unique activity in those threads. Only version spam and occasional same people replying.
In my opinion, no that is a very bad idea. A hyped game means it has a lot of attention but there is no reason to micro-release updates. Might as well satisfy people for hyping your game by giving them what they want: The full game.

People are just abusing the alpha/beta word and version numbers because they think it is appropriate doing so. My highly disagree but that is just me.

Well, I'm a big perpetrator in that case, but, if I don't keep releasing versions I lose motivation and never finish the project anyway.
Sure, it sounds like a great way to tire people out, but it's also helpful to the creator to have goalpoints where you can show bits of your new work to the world, and prove to them and  yourself that you are actually doing something.

Helepolis

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #24 on: June 28, 2013, 01:50:26 PM »
Well, I'm a big perpetrator in that case, but, if I don't keep releasing versions I lose motivation and never finish the project anyway.
Sure, it sounds like a great way to tire people out, but it's also helpful to the creator to have goalpoints where you can show bits of your new work to the world, and prove to them and  yourself that you are actually doing something.
Arguably that would be a delusion for both the author and players. Why would you lose motivation if you did not release bits of the game? What guarantee does it gives a creator anyway, that micro-releases would lead to secure completion of the game? You could always lose motivation, energy, inspiration. And then what? Will those releases become obligatory? Sounds like they will. Arguably it is also matter of style. First of all: "Showing something" and "releasing something" might have the same purpose, but aren't exactly the same.

The question is: Does your next release really provide anything new compared to the previous? I often see releases where a person adds mere back ground or sound effects. Sure, be my guest but at the core of the game, nothing changes. Why didn't the author bother before with the music or sounds? Which boils down to my personal curiosity: Are people releasing something because it is obligatory or is it a matter of free will and decision? For this reason I believe people abuse the words alpha/beta/demo. But since this is the internet, it is easy to spread out work and the actual meaning of a alpha, beta or demo is forgotten.

I just find it all false hope, but that is just my opinion.

I apologise for the off topic discussion, but since the original author was wondering things in a certain dramatic sense, I thought it was a good point to raise.

Dark Kitsune

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #25 on: June 28, 2013, 03:45:58 PM »
It's actually quite common for game creators to get distracted from a project after all the "fun" or "exciting" parts are done with. They could leave the project for a long time then suddenly decide to work a bit more. To them, adding/changing backgrounds or audio could be a great accomplishment, and could lead to them getting back on the project again.
Now, obviously, that's not always the case, but I don't think it's such a good idea to say that most projects that have little updates and use alpha/beta versions are just "version spamming".

And is there a separate topic for something like  this? It feels kind of rude to take up space on someone's game topic...

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #26 on: July 08, 2013, 04:09:59 PM »
I had some new ideas for the game:
Spoiler:
-The Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs will have some plot importance, there will be one on each of the first six stages. Failure to collect all six will net you a bad ending.
-Each of those orbs in turn will be protected by a "Gauntlet" similar to the encounters with Meta-Knight's Army from Kirby's Adventure/Super Star
-Clearing the game once will tell you how to unlock extra mode, which will be set after the events of normal mode. Stage EX from normal mode will be replaced by the Phantasm Stage.

Any thoughts? Should I implement these?
« Last Edit: July 08, 2013, 04:12:30 PM by Evil_Nazgul0616 »

Kingault

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #27 on: July 08, 2013, 08:43:16 PM »
All three of those sound like good ideas.
Maybe the extra mode could unlock a bonus mode which allows you to play both normal and extra mode, in one big mode, one right after the other, at half health, with a bonus boss at the end?
It's a long way off, but food for though.


Great, now I'm getting images of a Super Yuyuko in my head... Hm.
Oooh, bonus boss if you get all orbs, in any mode?

Evil_Nazgul0616

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #28 on: July 08, 2013, 09:38:32 PM »
Oooh, bonus boss if you get all orbs, in any mode?

Yes, but only in normal mode. The orbs will be absent in extra mode (for continuity reasons). Obtaining all the orbs will grant access to the last two bosses.
Spoiler:
(which will be Dark Matter and Zero 2 from the Kirby series.)

Kingault

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Re: Yuyuko of the Netherworld (Platformer game) - Alpha 2 is out!
« Reply #29 on: July 09, 2013, 12:00:23 AM »
Yes, but only in normal mode. The orbs will be absent in extra mode (for continuity reasons). Obtaining all the orbs will grant access to the last two bosses.
Spoiler:
(which will be Dark Matter and Zero 2 from the Kirby series.)

Ah I see, so it's like the collectables in Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64, but not nearly as many. Makes sense.


Anyway, what do you think about unlocking a hard mode for both modes(or just normal, and then for extra mode after beating normal mode on hard) after beating extra mode?
It would basically be the same as the original modes, but with half health.
Maybe EX bosses like Kirby's Return to Dream Land had... faster, though, etc.

It's a shame I don't have any graphical or sound related skills to offer. This is an interesting game.
Then again, I've always related Kirby to Yuyuko...
Pink (hair), known for having quite an appetite...