Status Update #8 - Everyone is here!
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 12:01:16 AM

Hey everyone!

I've got quite a bit to cover in this update, so I'll get started with progress on the full game.

First off, like the title says, everyone is here! Everyone from the original game anyways, Cloudy Copter hasn't shown up yet...

Adding the characters has gone really well. The original cast has proven to be a great starting point, as the variety in their behaviors  has helped make sure my core NPC programming is flexible. This makes things so much easier for me, and means I can make brand new characters faster than ever before!

Like I mentioned in the last update, I'm using my own navigation system I built from scratch, and it's proven to have some huge advantages in some areas, as well as a few disadvantages, but that's to be expected. Despite the challenges though, I've been able to make a lot of tweaks that I wanted in the original game, but couldn't due to the system I used. Let's go over a few of these changes:

Principal of the Thing

Principal of the Thing used to wander around just like everyone else, but now he does so differently. Rather than wandering completely randomly, Principal of the Thing now prefers going to places he hasn't been in a while. This means if you see him pass through a hall, it's likely you won't see him come that way again for a while!

Playtime

In the original game, Playtime will stop chasing you and wander randomly again if she loses sight of you. Problem was, sometimes she would still keep walking in the same direction! Now, she's guaranteed to turn around every time.

It's a Bully

It's a Bully can now spawn anywhere in the halls! Before he had a few preset spawn points, but now there's no telling where he could spawn!

That's just a few examples. A lot of other tweaks have been and will be made to the original cast to better balance the game. I don't want to spoil too much though, so you'll have to wait to find out what's changed!

Besides adding in the characters, I've been fixing bugs and putting the finishing touches on some of the core programming, mainly the level generator. Lockers now generate properly, I have more control over the types of doors that can spawn, and posters can now generate in groups and can even switch to different versions based on the language setting, just to name a few tweaks that I've made.

Baldi's Basics Classic 1.4.3

I've released a new update for the original game! As always, you can download it on Itch.io or Game Jolt. This update adds the Big Ol' Boots, as well as a poster that hints towards their function. I've also made a change that should make modders pretty happy! I've changed all of the sprites to use full rects, which I believe will prevent all the clipping issues that you'd often see with modified sprites in the previous versions of the game (Though I haven't tested it out myself, so I can't guarantee if this has fixed that issue). I've also made a few tweaks to the mobile version UI settings. Speaking of the mobile version...

...I now have the game running on iOS! It shouldn't be too much longer now before the game hits app stores. I'll be sure to post an update here once I have a solid release date.

Surveys

I've had quite a few people asking me about the surveys. Just a reminder that when they are about to be sent out, I'll post an update here dedicated to info on the surveys. I'll cover what day they should go out, how to fill them, and any special instructions for a few backer tiers that need them. I don't think it will be too much longer now, so keep an eye on your email to be sure you catch that update when it goes out!

Well, that's about all I have for this update. Thanks for your patience everyone, I'm going to do my best to make sure the wait is worth it!

Status Update #7 - Field Trips and Angry Teachers
almost 5 years ago – Wed, May 08, 2019 at 01:51:02 AM

Hello everyone! I know it's been a while, but I've got a pretty big update today! The final two major features - AI and field trips - have been implemented! On top of that, I've gone beyond just making placeholders, and have added Baldi and camping! While all of these things still require some finishing touches, I'm pretty much ready to start adding more characters and field trips into the game. For now though, let's talk a bit about NPCs.

In the original Baldi's Basics, I used Unity's built-in navigation tools. While that was sufficient for a gamejam game, it was clear that it wasn't designed to really work with the kind of NPC movement I wanted for the game. It was actually more complex than what I needed, and that extra complexity required a few hacks to fix some issues, and then there were some issues that I never found a solution for. So, for the full game I've built my own navigation system from scratch. I use a little bit of Unity's built in navigation features where it makes sense, but for the most part I'm using my own system, tailor made for Baldi's Basics. Here's an overview of how it works:

Near the top, you can see Baldi. Now normally he'll wander around randomly as you'd expect, and of course when he hears a noise he targets the location of the sound. The difference here is that instead of me just using a single command built into Unity to tell Baldi to go to that location, I use my own process that gives me more control. This starts with a simple pathfinding algorithm called A*, which uses the tiles in the level as its guide. Each tile contains info that tells the pathfinding algorithm which directions it can take, and that value can be changed whenever necessary (For example, if a door is locked, the algorithm will not be able to calculate a path that travels through it). Once the shortest possible path is found, the game goes through each tile in that path, and adds that tile's location to a list of points (The red lines you can see in the photo above). Once all the points have been added, Baldi (Or whichever NPC) will travel through all of them until he reaches the destination or something else grabs his attention. Of course, there's a bit more to it than that, but that's a pretty good overview of the system. The best parts about this new system is that it allows for easier control of where NPCs can and can't go, NPCs will no longer collide with each other (Except when I want them to, like with Gotta Sweep), and they will act the same no matter how low the frame rate is, unlike the original game, where a lower frame rate could cause some NPCs to struggle moving around.

On another note, the random wandering is a lot better now too! Whereas before it was done by randomly selecting from an array of locations in the school, and then telling the NPC to go there, now it's done much more naturally. NPCs simply wander through halls, and when they approach turns they make decisions of where to go on the fly. Gone are the days of Principal of the Thing turning around just when you think he's about to leave!

Here's a video of Baldi in action...

...and it also shows a field trip working! Obviously there's still some placeholder stuff, and some stuff that hasn't been fully finished yet, but for the most part everything is functioning and ready to build off of. As you can see, just like I demonstrated in the field trip demo, you'll go on a field trip, play a game, and then win some items depending on how well you do. The school will be just as you left it, so if Baldi's close behind when you go on a field trip, he'll still be there when you get back!

On top of fine tuning some of the existing systems, I'm planning on adding a lot more content from here on out, rather than just building systems. The foundation is solid enough now for me to start doing so!

Thanks for your patience everyone, updates should be back to their regular schedule for the forseeable future!

Baldi's Basics is one year old! To celebrate, I've released a new version of Baldi's Basics!
about 5 years ago – Tue, Apr 02, 2019 at 01:25:15 AM

On March 31, Baldi's Basics became a year old! Thanks to everyone who's made the past year so crazy! To celebrate, I've released a new version of Baldi's Basics with some fun changes. These include:

• All the items are shuffled around each time you play, so you'll never know where each item is.
• They've also been wrapped up! No way to know what an item is until you pick it up and unwrap it!
• The food and drink machines can now dispense any item.
• Two new items have been added!
• The school has been filled with balloons and a cake, and some of Baldi's friends have dressed up for the occasion.
• A brand new ending as thanks for making the past year so incredible!

You can check it out here! I hope you all enjoy it!

Status Update #6 - The game has reached a playable state!
about 5 years ago – Wed, Mar 13, 2019 at 11:41:31 PM

Hello everyone! Things have been going pretty smoothly, and the game has reached a point where it's "technically" playable! I say "technically" because there's currently an insanely small amount of content (Baldi isn't even in the game yet!), but this is still a pretty major milestone in the game's development. You can now press start on the menu, get brought to a level and spawn in properly, collect all of notebooks, and re-enter the elevator to continue to the net level.

"Wait, elevator?!" you might be asking. Some of you may have missed it, but in  a previous update I talked about my plans to change a few small details from the original game, one being the way exits worked. Rather than exiting the school to beat a level, you'll now need to enter an elevator, and each level will take place above the previous floor.

Another new thing that has been implemented is the random event system! I now have it set up so that each level has a list of events that can be randomly selected, and then they will activate with random timing while playing the level. Currently there is only one event in the game (Where the school fills with fog), but I can't wait to start adding crazy and more complex events!

You can see everything in action in the video below (Note that the video recording has some stuttering at some points, which was not actually occurring in the game). As always, pretty much everything you see here is a placeholder, nothing is final, and there's lots of stuff missing, but I'm really happy with how well everything is working so far!

Next up, I'll be working on getting character AI (Perhaps one of the most important parts of the game!) and field trips working. These will be the last few major gameplay elements to add. Once I get those things running, and tweak everything to my liking, I'll be able to start the next phase of development, where I begin adding content where currently there are just placeholders. That's when the game will really start taking shape.

Mobile Update

As I've mentioned in the past, the full game is my top priority right now, so since the initial release of the mobile version of Baldi's Basics Classic I haven't done a whole lot of work on it. Admittedly, I've definitely favored the full game a bit too much over the past few weeks, so my apologies for taking so long on the next mobile build. I'll try to get an update out some time this week, and hopefully it will be good enough to start working towards releasing the game on app stores! Thankfully the first build I released seemed to run pretty well for most people, so it doesn't seem to need a lot more work. For the people experiencing that crazy rendering bug, I'm going to try a few things to hopefully find a solution. Quite frankly I'm not sure what could be causing it, but hopefully I can get to the bottom of it.

That's about it for this update. Hopefully I can get Baldi in the game in time for next month's update and the game's 1 year anniversary! Thanks again for the support everyone, I hope you all have a great week!

Status Update #5 - The level Generator is nearly complete!
about 5 years ago – Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 12:20:09 AM

Hello Everyone!

I'm happy to say that the level generator is practically complete now! Other than a few small additions and some bug fixes, most of the major functionality has been implemented. This includes:

• Reserving space for special rooms (e.g. the Cafeteria)
• Randomly selecting which textures should be used throughout the level
• Creating different types of rooms (Class rooms, faculty rooms, etc.)
• Filling rooms with objects
• Filling halls with objects
• Adding posters

Another new feature of the random level generator is the way it now creates more unique layouts. Last time I showed it off, it worked by creating square plots, and then filling in the space in-between with hallways. Now, on top of that, it will also remove a few of these initial hallways, and then create new ones with more randomness. This way levels won't just consist of a ton of long straight hallways!

Here's a video of the level generator creating a few different levels!

The level generator is starting to make levels that look super similar to the one in the original game, even with all the placeholder stuff! The rooms with all the desks and chairs are class rooms, the rooms with the wood texture are faculty rooms, and the big room in each level with the colored tiles is the special room. No principal's office, yellow doors, or windows yet, but those things will be easy additions!

At this point, I'm super close to the next phase of level building where I create actual content for the levels that the generator loads in. Things like wall textures, posters, room layouts, objects, items, etc. I've set up an awesome system which allows me to customize what content can be loaded in each level, and how likely each item is to be selected. For example, with my current setup, when the level generator selects which texture should be used for the hall walls, it will most likely select the classic white bricks texture, as it has a value of 1000 vs. the green placeholder texture, which has a value of 100. This system is how most elements in levels are determined, and will also be used for selecting things like random events, field trips, character spawns, etc.

Mobile progress!

Last week, I released an android build of Baldi's Basics Classic on the game's Itch.io page. You can download it here if you want to try it out! I'll be updating it based off of your feedback, and once it's working well for as many people as possible, I'll work towards releasing it on Google Play and iOS! I've already received some great feedback on it, and if you have any you'd like to give, please do so on this page. Feedback will be easier for me to sort through if it's all kept in one place.

Well, that's all I've got to share for now. As always, thanks for the support, and I look forward to sharing more progress next month!