So for probably about eight months now, MML3 Servbot Roundup hasn't been able to submit leaderboard times. Haven't thought much about fixing it in all that time however, simply because there was no reason for it to stop working. Nothing changed on the game's end, so what could have happened?

Never did figure it out, but we did discover that it submits fine as a desktop standalone; the Unity Web Player was clearly the issue. This, combined with the Web Player's imminent obsoletion as Unity marches towards WebGL, further combined with the common performance issues encountered on the Web Player, prompted fAB and I to remove the browser-playable version and re-release it as a downloadable title for both Windows and Mac.

This comes with a few additional update perks (such as a new Level 4 and other minor improvements), and we've also reset the leaderboards (the originals are archived). With the competition cleared now's the time to reclaim your throne or rise to the top anew, so head on over to the game's page and get downloading!

SD Powered Up v2.0 has been released! I set out to make a small v1.2 update to wrap up a few tweaks and bug fixes, and two months later I found myself with v2.0... Seems to be how things are done around here, for better or worse.

As the tweaks and improvements started escalating my underlying goal became improving the game from a design perspective, as good game design wasn't a primary concern with this project so much as enjoying the creative process. For example, so far as I could tell it wasn't possible to defeat Quick Man buster-only without taking severe damage regardless of skill level. Any boss where you can't possibly hope to win without getting beaten to a pulp in the process generally falls under bad game design in my book, and it's things like this that I set out to fix.
Changes include:

• Behavior has been tweaked where necessary to allow reliable no-damage buster-only victories on every boss. Likewise, levels have also been tweaked to remove potentially frustrating spots and allow for reliable no-damage buster-only runs. Essentially made the whole game reliably buster-only perfect-runnable for the skilled and dedicated.
• Hard Mode was made easier by removing flash damage (post-hit invincibility) from normal enemies. Upon reflection I decided that just really wasn't a good idea as it renders your skill in rapid-firing inconsequential in a game with no charge shot to fall back on.
• Loads of other miscellaneous changes; Hard and Fusion Mode both unlock together now, you default to the last costume worn on level start and new life, Fusion improvements, enemy improvements, extra bonus content for completing all Challenges, etc.
• And of course, piles and piles of bug fixes and visual fixes/improvements--including graphics card and Windows 8 performance issues.

This massive update makes for the definitive version of the game, and will hopefully be its final. If you've already played and enjoyed the game at all v2 is definitely worth a download, and if you're a newcomer there's never been a better time to do so. Head on over to the game's page to download it and check out the full release notes!

Today marks the 10 year anniversary since I first installed Game Maker 5.3 and took up game development, so I thought it might be an appropriate occasion for some new content. Hope you enjoy!

After witnessing unexpected lag on a player's computer I set out to improve performance and ended up overhauling the foundation of the game enough to warrant a jump to v2. You can see the full rundown of improvements on the game's page, but the main change was in making bombs simply deplete your life energy upon collision instead of restarting the entire level over. Granted, it's still game over if you run out of energy, but I think this behavior makes the game much more fun, accessible, and less apt to cause rage quitting.

There've been a couple of little things in this game nagging at me for a long while, and in finally addressing them and improving a few other items I also added an Easy mode since most players found this game too difficult to bother playing (if the download to online submission ratio is any indication). Easy mode simply provides platforms over pits, hopefully making GBD's fast-paced intensity more accessible to everyone.