Extra Levels Incoming
Originally published October 1st, 2018
Something new to do in War Ender.
Happy fall! I, for one, am glad to be out of the hot weather. I’ve always preferred the cold, not to mention certain earthly creatures go away and I’m not sneezing every ten seconds. But enough about me! Let’s go over some changes implemented in War Ender during the month of September.
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…oh, is that it? Well, not quite. My list of things to patch has been awfully small, something I’m thankful for. So instead I’ve put most of my efforts into creating new levels for War Ender. I said in the last dev blog that new levels would be released to everyone, and I intend to make good on that promise. I went through and picked two levels that were ultimately scrapped from the final game, and will be releasing them to the public. In addition, there’s another level that I somewhat forgot about.
Today, I’ll show off two of the scrapped bonus levels and explain the original idea behind them. I won’t show off the third extra level but I will certainly give a little background on the level. So with that, let’s start by taking a look at Extra Level 1!
Originally, Extra Level 1 was to be the first bonus level you would unlock. If you somehow happen to have an old version of the War Ender demo on your hard drive, you could even play this level, though it’s been given quite a few new things since then. For instance, you’ll notice in the gif above that Obsessors and Pyro enemies are present, which is not something the original version had. And of course, things like the building background art is here too.
As the extra levels go, this one is pretty straightforward. It’s basically another War Ender level, which was exactly why it got omitted from the original game. The bonus levels needed something much more interesting to make them, well, bonuses. This wasn’t going to cut it, so I cut the level from the game. However, now that Extra Levels are now in the works, it seemed appropriate to bring this level back, give it some new stuff, and give it to you as the first extra level.
Extra Level 2 is a scrapped level from Chapter 3. Those who played through War Ender knows that Chapter 3 is split into four levels, just like the other chapters. However,I believe this chapter has a slightly different structure than the others. Most chapters have a sort of theme to them. For instance, Chapter 2 largely takes place underground. In Chapter 3, you’re first outside on top of buildings, followed by being attacked by The Detractors of War and taken to their base. You fight through the initial forces to then go through a level where you must escape, and then you fight a boss.
3-3 was not originally going to be a scrolling level. It was originally planned to be a level with an emphasis on platforming. But then I liked the idea of an escape level more, so I thought I could make this into a bonus level. Then the bonus level revamp happened, and so the game had no place for this level…until now! There won’t be much fighting in this level, as the Detractors forces are spread rather thin. But rest assured that a challenge does await you in this extra level.
There is a third extra level, but it’s still going through a lot of work and is not in a presentable state at this time. You’ll have to wait until the levels are released to see what this third level is about. I will say this…originally this level was not an actual level in War Ender. Not a regular level, bonus level…no, instead it was what I will call a “pitch level.” It dates back to when the game was called Action Square. I would use this level to demonstrate the basic mechanics, enemies, and structure of the level.
Of course, the game has evolved since then. For starters the name of the game isn’t even the same. While I will take a few liberties with what enemies are present and where they will be placed, I’ve left the geometry of the level intact. No added mechanics are present in the level structure. The only changes are the main character and the enemies. Everything else is as it was when the game was just a side project called Action Sqaure. There aren’t even any jumppads!
It’s been nice sharing what’s in store for War Ender. There’s some other works going on as we speak, something I talked about in the last dev blog. In particular, my next major project has gone through some leaps and bounds in development, while my smaller, more narrative focused project has been chugging along. I’ve almost got the game’s gameplay 25% completed. It’s been an exciting month and a lot of progress has been made in a variety of ways. And this is even when you factor me being gone for a week on vacation! So imagine how October will be in terms of development progress? And maybe, just maybe…the extra levels will be released before the next dev blog goes live!
Until next time!
-Lance T.
War Ender store links:
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/884070/War_Ender/
Itch.io: https://prof-smash.itch.io/war-ender