Yesterday, 06:31 PM
Download it here!
It lives.
I'm not making this up. This is not a late April Fool's prank.
Super Mario Bros. & Midas Machine, the most-anticipated game on MFGG, is finally getting a new demo! I was trying to figure out how to celebrate MFGG's 25th birthday, and I decided that this would be a pretty good way to celebrate!
What's new in this demo?
The main thing that's new is a LOT of new levels. The 2021 anniversary build gave players three mostly-functioning worlds and a brief glimpse of the first quarter of World 4. Now, the demo takes us all the way to the start of World 7! Some of the levels in later worlds aren't 100% complete, but I think you'll find them to be fully playable.
Other things worth noting:
Wait, what's up? I thought this thing was dead!
I thought so too! There hadn't been any progress on Midas Machine since the 2021 anniversary demo. Pretty much everyone had given up on the hope of there being any further progress, as the game had a very complicated tech stack, and modifying existing levels proved to be very complicated.
Last spring, Chaoxys shared the rest of the Midas Machine graphics on the mainsite, since it was looking like we'd never see another Midas Machine demo. However, I got to thinking: What if there was some way I could revive this thing? I chatted with Chaoxys and Mors for a bit, and I got access to the Midas Machine GitHub to start analyzing the problems that had been holding us back.
While I never was able to find a way to get Ogmo Editor running, I found a workaround that ensured I could still update existing levels! I realized that getting this thing to the finish line was not an insurmountable challenge. Since then, I've been doing at least some work on this project almost every day.
When will this game be finished?
I wish I could give you a definitive release date, but I'm not at that point yet. I still haven't seen much of the later worlds, and I'm still getting a feel for how complex the bosses and cutscenes will be to code. But I can confirm that we're a lot closer to being done than we were three months ago.
How far along are you?
Currently, I've been able to test about 74% of the game's planned content. To put things in perspective, the most recent public demo had only about 30% of the game's planned levels fully playable, and even those first three worlds had some defects and missing things. This demo includes 92 goals and 150 Golden Mushrooms, which is about 60% of the game.
What's left to do?
Here's a high-level view of what's left:
Will there be any more demos?
I'm not sure - that's something I'll discuss with Chaoxys as we make more progress on the remaining levels.
Can I help?
You can definitely help by playing the demo! It's helpful to get multiple pairs of eyes on this game. There are probably bugs and issues that no one's caught yet. It's also helpful to know if some section seems unreasonably difficult.
Otherwise, finishing this project is mostly a solo job. It's a matter of playing through each level, fixing any bugs I find, and adding any missing enemies or NPCs. At this point I'm the only person who has an OK-ish idea of how to do this.
That said, there are two tasks where there's a small chance you can help.
If you're an excellent composer, there are a couple more areas where I'd love to have a groovy original composition. PM me if you're interested.
If you have a proven track record of developing top-notch platformers in older versions of Game Maker, and you're interested in helping code boss fights, let me know. This is the hardest remaining work.
Will this affect progress on Tusk Trouble?
We're still making good progress on Tusk Trouble, MFGG's new Community Fangame Project. Most of the work on Tusk Trouble is being led by people other than myself, since we have a pretty good-sized team, and I should still have time to work on my Tusk Trouble levels once the pending assets have been completed. My primary role in that CFP is the reverse of what I'm doing for Midas Machine (making new levels instead of fixing existing levels), so I get to use a different part of the brain.
Go play this demo
Have fun and let me know what you think! I'll be checking this topic and the mainsite page regularly. This is a big moment for MFGG, and I hope seeing this new release puts a big smile on your face!
It lives.
I'm not making this up. This is not a late April Fool's prank.
Super Mario Bros. & Midas Machine, the most-anticipated game on MFGG, is finally getting a new demo! I was trying to figure out how to celebrate MFGG's 25th birthday, and I decided that this would be a pretty good way to celebrate!
What's new in this demo?
The main thing that's new is a LOT of new levels. The 2021 anniversary build gave players three mostly-functioning worlds and a brief glimpse of the first quarter of World 4. Now, the demo takes us all the way to the start of World 7! Some of the levels in later worlds aren't 100% complete, but I think you'll find them to be fully playable.
Other things worth noting:
- Updated the Golden Mushroom counts for every level - some previous builds showed the wrong number of shrooms for a lot of levels
- Proofread the entire game script - the old version had quite a few typos
- Ensured that every room has a unique E. Gadd message - a lot of areas, especially in Worlds 3 and 4, were missing these
- Updated level names - some of the levels had generic placeholder names in previous builds
- Fixed various bugs - ranging from small graphical issues (like missing backgrounds) to game-breaking bugs
- Added several new secret areas (you'll understand why they were added soon)
- Fixed a sharp difficulty spike in the train level
Wait, what's up? I thought this thing was dead!
I thought so too! There hadn't been any progress on Midas Machine since the 2021 anniversary demo. Pretty much everyone had given up on the hope of there being any further progress, as the game had a very complicated tech stack, and modifying existing levels proved to be very complicated.
Last spring, Chaoxys shared the rest of the Midas Machine graphics on the mainsite, since it was looking like we'd never see another Midas Machine demo. However, I got to thinking: What if there was some way I could revive this thing? I chatted with Chaoxys and Mors for a bit, and I got access to the Midas Machine GitHub to start analyzing the problems that had been holding us back.
While I never was able to find a way to get Ogmo Editor running, I found a workaround that ensured I could still update existing levels! I realized that getting this thing to the finish line was not an insurmountable challenge. Since then, I've been doing at least some work on this project almost every day.
When will this game be finished?
I wish I could give you a definitive release date, but I'm not at that point yet. I still haven't seen much of the later worlds, and I'm still getting a feel for how complex the bosses and cutscenes will be to code. But I can confirm that we're a lot closer to being done than we were three months ago.
How far along are you?
Currently, I've been able to test about 74% of the game's planned content. To put things in perspective, the most recent public demo had only about 30% of the game's planned levels fully playable, and even those first three worlds had some defects and missing things. This demo includes 92 goals and 150 Golden Mushrooms, which is about 60% of the game.
What's left to do?
Here's a high-level view of what's left:
- Test the levels in Worlds 9 and 10 and fix any issues I find
- Finish implementing postgame content
- Add missing bosses
- Add a few more cutscenes
- Add a few missing objects - certain levels need enemies or NPCs that aren't in the current engine
- Fix bugs (yes, there will be some of those)
Will there be any more demos?
I'm not sure - that's something I'll discuss with Chaoxys as we make more progress on the remaining levels.
Can I help?
You can definitely help by playing the demo! It's helpful to get multiple pairs of eyes on this game. There are probably bugs and issues that no one's caught yet. It's also helpful to know if some section seems unreasonably difficult.
Otherwise, finishing this project is mostly a solo job. It's a matter of playing through each level, fixing any bugs I find, and adding any missing enemies or NPCs. At this point I'm the only person who has an OK-ish idea of how to do this.
That said, there are two tasks where there's a small chance you can help.
If you're an excellent composer, there are a couple more areas where I'd love to have a groovy original composition. PM me if you're interested.
If you have a proven track record of developing top-notch platformers in older versions of Game Maker, and you're interested in helping code boss fights, let me know. This is the hardest remaining work.
Will this affect progress on Tusk Trouble?
We're still making good progress on Tusk Trouble, MFGG's new Community Fangame Project. Most of the work on Tusk Trouble is being led by people other than myself, since we have a pretty good-sized team, and I should still have time to work on my Tusk Trouble levels once the pending assets have been completed. My primary role in that CFP is the reverse of what I'm doing for Midas Machine (making new levels instead of fixing existing levels), so I get to use a different part of the brain.
Go play this demo
Have fun and let me know what you think! I'll be checking this topic and the mainsite page regularly. This is a big moment for MFGG, and I hope seeing this new release puts a big smile on your face!
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